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CHARLES KINGSLEY 

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THE HEROES 


OR 

GREEK FAIRY TALES 

FOR MY CHILDREN 


CHARLES KINGSLEY 



MAY 1895 




PHILADELPHIA 
HENRY ALTEMUS 
1895 


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0 

Copyrighted 1895, by Henry AltemUS. 


V 


MBNRY ALTEMUS, MANUFACTURER, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


TO 


MY CHILDREN, 

ROSE, MAURICE, AND MARY, 

A LITTLE PRESENT OF 


OLD GREEK FAIRY TALES. 




















/ 



PREFACE 


My Dear Children: — 

Some of you have heard already of the old Greeks ; 
and all of you, as you grow up, will hear more and 
more of them. Those of you who are boys will, per- 
haps, spend a great deal of time in reading Greek 
books; and the girls, though they may not learn 
Greek, will be sure to come across a great many 
stories taken from Greek history, and to see, I may 
say every day, things which we should not have had 
if it had not been for these old Greeks. You can 
hardly find a well-written book which has not in it 
Greek names, and words, and proverbs; you cannot 
walk through a great town without passing Greek 
buildings; you cannot go into a well-furnished room 
without seeing Greek statues and ornaments, even 
Greek patterns of furniture and paper — so strangely 
have these old Greeks left their mark behind them 
upon this modern world in which we now live. And 
as you grow up, and read more and more, you will 
find that we owe to these old Greeks the beginnings 


PREFACE. 


of all our mathematics .and geometry — that is, the 
science and knowledge of numbers, and of the shapes 
of things, and of the forces which make things move 
and stand at rest; and the beginnings of our geog- 
raphy and astronomy; and of our laws, and freedom, 
and politics — that is, the science of how to rule a 
country, and make it peaceful and strong. And we 
owe to them, too, the beginning of our logic — that 
is, the study of words and of reasoning ; and of our 
metaphysics — that is, the study of our own thoughts 
and souls. And last of all, they made their language 
so beautiful that foreigners used to take to it instead 
of their own ; and at last Greek became the common 
language of educated people all over the old world, 
from Persia and Egypt even to Spain and Britain. 
And therefore it was that the New Testament was 
written in Greek, that it might be read and under- 
stood by all the nations of the Roman empire; so 
that next to the Jews, and the Bible which the Jews 
handed down to us, we owe more to these old Greeks 
than to any people upon earth. 

Now you must remember one thing, that “ Greeks” 
was not their real name. They called themselves 
always “Hellens,” but the Romans miscalled them 
Greeks; and we have taken that wrong name from 
the Romans; it would take a long time to tell you 
why. They were made up of many tribes and many 
small separate states ; and when you hear in this book 


PREFACE. 


7 


of Minuai, and Athenians, and other such names, you 
must remember that they were all different tribes and 
peoples of the one great Hellen race, who lived in 
what we now call Greece, in the islands of the Archi- 
pelago, and along the coast of Asia Minor (Ionia, as 
they call it) , from the Hellespont to Rhodes, and had 
afterwards colonies and cities in Sicily, and South 
Italy (which was called Great Greece), and along the 
shores of the Black Sea, at Sinope, and Kertch, and 
at Sevastopol. And after that, again, they spread 
under Alexander the Great, and conquered Egypt, 
and Syria, and Persia, and the whole East. But that 
was many a hundred years after my stories; for then 
there were no Greeks on the Black Sea shores, nor 
in Sicily, or Italy, or anywhere but in Greece and in 
Ionia. And if you are puzzled by the names of 
places in this book, you must take the maps and find 
them out. It will be a pleasanter way of learning 
geography than out of a dull lesson-book. 

Now, I love these old Hellens heartily; and I should 
be very ungrateful to them if I did not, considering 
all that they have taught me ; and they seem to me 
like brothers, though they have all been dead and 
gone many a hundred years ago. So as you must 
learn about them, whether you choose or not, I wish 
to be the first to introduce you to them, and to say, 
“ Come hither, children, at this blessed Christmas 
time, when ail God’s creatures should rejoice together, 


8 


PREFACE. 


and bless Him who redeemed them all. Come and 
see old friends of mine, whom I knew long ere you 
were born. They are come to visit us at Christmas, 
out of the world where all live to God ; and to tell 
you some of their old fairy-tales, which they loved 
when they were young like you.” 

For nations begin at first by being children like 
you, though they are made up of grown men. They 
are children at first like you — men and women with 
children’s hearts; frank, and affectionate, and full of 
trust, and teachable, and loving to see and learn all 
the wonders round them ; and greedy, also, too often, 
and passionate and silly, as children are. 

Thus these old Greeks were teachable, and learnt 
from all the nations round. From the Phoenicians 
they learnt ship-building, and some say letters be- 
sides; and from the Assyrians they learnt painting, 
and carving, and building in wood and stone; and 
from the Egyptians they learnt astronomy, and many 
things which you would not understand. In this 
they were like our own forefathers, the Northmen, 
of whom you love to hear, who, though they were 
wild and rough themselves, were humble, and glad to 
learn from every one. Therefore God rewarded these 
Greeks, as He rewarded our forefathers, and made 
them wiser than the people who taught them, in every 
thing they learnt; for He loves to see men and chil- 
dren open-hearted, and willing to be taught; and to 


PREFACE. 


9 


him who uses what he has got, He gives more and 
more day by day. So these Greeks grew wise and 
powerful, and wrote poems which will live till the 
world’s end, which you must read for yourselves some 
day, in English at least, if not in Greek. And they 
learnt to carve statues, and build temples, which are 
still among the wonders of the world ; and many an- 
other wondrous thing God taught them, for which 
we are the wiser this day. 

For you must not fancy, children, that because 
these old Greeks were heathens, therefore God did 
not care for them, and taught them nothing. 

The Bible tells us that it was not so, but that God’s 
mercy is over all His works, and that He understands 
the hearts of all people, and fashions all their works. 
And St. Paul told these old Greeks in aftertimes, 
when they had grown wicked and fallen low, that 
they ought to have known better, because they were 
God’s offspring, as their own poets had said; and 
that the good God had put them where they were, to 
seek the Lord, and feel after Him, and find Him, 
though He was not far from any one of them. And 
Clement of Alexandria, a great Father of the Church, 
who was as wise as he was good, said that God had 
sent down Philosophy to the Greeks from heaven, as 
he sent down the Gospel to the Jews. 

For Jesus Christ, remember, is the Light who 
lights every man who comes into the world. And no 


10 


PREFACE. 


one can think a right thought, or feel a right feeling, 
or understand the real truth of anything in earth 
and heavens, unless the good Lord Jesus teaches him 
by His Spirit, which gives man understanding. 

But these Greeks, as St. Paul told them, forgot 
what God had taught them, and though they were 
God’s offspring, worshipped idols of wood and stone, 
and fell at last into sin and shame, and then, of 
course, into cowardice and slavery, till they perished 
out of that beautiful land which God had given them 
for so many years. 

For, like all nations who have left anything be- 
hind them, besides mere mounds of earth, they 
believed at first in the One True God who made all 
heaven and earth. But after a while, like all other 
nations, they began to worship other gods, or rather 
angels and spirits, who (so they fancied) lived about 
their land. Zeus, the Father of gods and men (who 
was some dim remembrance of the blessed true God), 
and Hera his wife, and Phoebus Apollo, the Sun-god, 
and Pallas Athene, who taught men wisdom and use- 
ful arts, and Aphrodite, the Queen of Beauty, and 
Poseidon, the Ruler of the Sea, and Hephaistos, the 
King of the Fire, who taught men to work in metals. 
And they honoured the Gods of the Rivers, and the 
Nymph-maids, who they fancied lived in the caves, 
and the fountains, and the glens of the forest, and all 
beautiful wild places. And they honoured the Erin- 


PREFACE. 


11 


nyes, the dreadful sisters who, they thought, haunted 
guilty men until their sins were purged away. And 
many other dreams they had, which parted the One 
God into many; and they said, too, that these gods 
did things which would be a shame and sin for any 
man to do. And when their philosophers arose, and 
told them that God was One, they would not listen, 
but loved their idols, and their wicked idol feasts, till 
they all came to ruin. But we will talk of such sad 
things no more. 

But, at the time of which this little book speaks, 
they had not fallen as low as that. They worshipped 
no idols, as far as I can find ; and they still believed 
in the last six of the ten commandments, and knew 
well what was right and what was wrong. And they 
believed (and that was what gave them courage) that 
the gods loved men, and taught them, and that with- 
out the gods men were sure to come to ruin. And in, 
that they were right enough, as we know — more right 
even than they thought; for without God we can do 
nothing, and all wisdom comes from Him. 

Now, you must not think of them in this book as 
learned men, living in great cities, such as they were 
afterwards, when they wrought all their beautiful 
works, but as country people, living in farms and 
walled villages, in a simple, hard-working way; so 
that the greatest kings and heroes cooked their own 
meals and thought it no shame, and made their own 


12 


PREFACE. 


ships and weapons, and fed and harnessed their own 
horses; and the queens worked with their maid-ser- 
vants, and did all the business of the house, and spun, 
and wove, and embroidered, and made their hus- 
bands’ clothes and their own. So that a man was 
honoured among them, not because he happened to 
be rich, but according to his skill, and his strength, 
and courage, and the number of things which he 
could do. For they were but grown-up children, 
though they were right noble children too; and it 
was with them, as it is now at school, the strongest 
and cleverest boy, though he be poor, leads all the 
rest. 

Now, while they were young and simple they loved 
fairy tales, as you do now. All nations do so when 
they are young : our old forefathers did, and called 
their stories “ Sagas.” I will read you some of them 
some day — some of the Eddas, and the Voluspa, and 
Beowulf, and the noble old Romances. The old 
Arabs, again, had their tales, which we now call 
“ The Arabian Nights.” The old Romans had theirs, 
and they called them “ Fabulae,” from which our 
word “fable” comes; but the old Hellens called theirs 
“Muthoi,” from which our new word “ myth” is 
taken. But next to those old Romances, which were 
written in the Christian middle age, there are no 
fairy tales like these old Greek ones for beauty, and 
wisdom, and truth, and for making children love 


PREFACE. 


13 


noble deeds, and trust in God to help them 
through. 

Now, why have I called this book “The Heroes”? 
Because that was the name which the Hellens gave to 
men who were brave and skilful, and dare do more 
than other men. At first, I think, that was all it 
meant : but after a time it came to mean something 
more ; it came to mean men who helped their coun- 
try; men in those old times, when the country was 
half wild, who killed fierce beasts and evil men, and 
drained swamps, and founded towns, and therefore, 
after they were dead, were honoured, because they 
had left their country better than they found it. 
And we call such a man a hero in English to this 
day, and call it a “ heroic” thing to suffer pain and 
grief, that we may do good to our fellow-men. We 
may all do that, my children, boys and girls alike; 
and we ought to do it, for it is easier now than ever, 
and safer, and the path more clear. But you shall 
hear how the Hellens said their heroes worked, three 
thousand years ago. The stories are not all true, of 
course, nor half of them ; you are not simple enough 
to fancy that : but the meaning of them is true, and 
true forever, and that is — “Do right, and God will 
help you.” 


C. K. 



*» 


CONTENTS, 


PERSEUS. 

PART PAGE 

I.— -How Perseus and his Mother Came to Seri- 

phos 21 

II.— How Perseus Vowed a Rash Vow 27 

III. — How Perseus Slew the Gorgon 36 

IV. — How Perseus Came to the ^Sthiops 47 

V.— How Perseus Came Home Again 62 


THE ARGONAUTS. 

I.— How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on 

Pelion 69 

II.— How Jason Lost his Sandal in Anauros 80 

III. — How they Built the Ship Argo in Iolcos.. . 92 

IV. — How the Argonauts Sailed to Colchis 97 

V.— How the Argonauts were Driven into the 

Unknown Sea 127 

VI.— What was the End of the Heroes 157 


16 


CONTENTS. 


THESEUS. 

PART PAGE 

I.— How Theseus Lifted the Stone 1G1 

II.— How Theseus Slew the Devourers of Men. . 167 

III. — How Theseus Slew the Minotaur 198 

IV. —How Theseus Fell by his Pride 205 


PERSEUS 


PART I. 

HOW PERSEUS AND HIS MOTHER CAME TO SERIPHOS. 

Once upon a time there were two princes who were 
twins. Their names were Acrisius and Proetus, and 
they lived in the pleasant vale of Argos, far away in 
Hellas. They had fruitful meadows and vineyards, 
sheep and oxen, great herds of horses feeding down 
in Lerna Fen, and all that men could need to make 
them blest; and yet they were wretched, because they 
were jealous of each other. From the moment they 
were born they began to quarrel; and when they 
grew up, each tried to take away the other’s share of 
the kingdom, and keep all for himself. So, first 
Acrisius drove out Proetus; and he went across the 
seas, and brought home a foreign princess for his 
wife, and foreign warriors to help him, who were 
called Cyclopes; and drove out Acrisius in his turn; 
and then they fought a long while up and down the 
land, till the quarrel was settled ; and Acrisius took 
2 


18 


PERSEUS. 


Argos and one half the land, and Proetus took Tiryns 
and the other half. And Prcetus and his Cyclopes 
built around Tiryns great walls of unhewn stone, 
which are standing to this day. 

But there came a prophet to that hard-hearted 
Acrisius, and prophesied against him, and said : 
“ Because you have risen up against your own blood, 
your own blood shall rise up against you ; because you 
have sinned against your kindred, by your kindred 
you shall be punished. Your daughter Danae shall 
bear a son, and by that son’s hand you shall die. So the 
gods have ordained, and it will surely come to pass.” 

And at that, Acrisius was very much afraid ; but 
he did not mend his ways. He had been cruel to his 
own family; and, instead of repenting and being 
kind to them, he went on to be more cruel than ever; 
for he shut up his fair daughter Danae in a cavern 
underground, lined with brass, that no one might 
come near her. So he fancied himself more cunning 
than the gods; but you will see presently whether he 
was able to escape them. 

Now it came to pass that in time Danae bore a son ; 
so beautiful a babe that any but King Acrisius would 
have had pity on it. But he had no pity. For he 
took Danae and her babe down to the sea-shore, and 
put them into a great chest, and thrust them out to 
sea, for the winds and the waves to carry them 
whithersoever they would. 


PEESEUS. 


19 


The northwest wind blew freshly out of the blue 
mountains, and down the pleasant vale of Argos, and 
away and out to sea. And away and out to sea before 
it, floated the mother and her babe, while all who 
watched them wept, save that cruel father, King 
Acrisius. 

So they floated on and on, and the chest danced up 
and down upon the billows, and the baby slept upon 
its mother’s breast; but the poor mother could not 
sleep, but watched and wept, and she sang to her 
baby as they floated ; and the song which she sang 
you shall learn yourselves some day. 

And now they are past the last blue headland, and 
in the open sea; and there is nothing round them but 
the waves, and the sky, and the wind. But the waves 
are gentle, and the sky is clear, and the breeze is 
tender and low ; for these are the days when Halcyone 
and Ceyx build their nests, and no storms ever ruffle 
the pleasant summer sea. 

And who were Halcyone and Ceyx? You shall 
hear while the chest floats on. Halcyone was a fairy 
maiden, the daughter of the beach and of the wind. 
And she loved a sailor boy, and married him; and 
none on earth were so happy as they. But at last 
Ceyx was wrecked ; and before he could swim to the 
shore, the billows swallowed him up. And Halcyone 
saw him drowning, and leapt into the sea to him; 
but in vain. Then the Immortals took pity on them 


20 


PERSEUS. 


both, and changed them into two fair sea-birds; and 
now they build a floating nest every year, and sail up 
and down happily forever upon the pleasant seas of 
Greece. 

So a night passed and a day; and a long day it was 
for Danae; and another night and day beside, till 
Danae was faint with hunger and weeping, and yet 
no land appeared. And all the while the babe slept 
quietly; and at last poor Danae dropped her head and 
fell asleep likewise, with her cheek against her babe’s. 

After a while she awakened suddenly; for the chest 
was jarring and grinding, and the air was full of 
sound. She looked up, and over her head were 
mighty cliffs, all red in the setting sun, and around 
her rocks and breakers, and flying flakes of foam. 
She clasped her hands together, and shrieked aloud 
for help. And when she cried, help met her ; for 
now there came over the rocks a tall and stately man, 
and looked down wondering upon poor Danae tossing 
about in the chest among the waves. 

He wore a rough cloak of frieze, and on his head 
a broad hat to shade his face; in his hand he carried 
a trident for spearing fish, and over his shoulder was 
a casting-net ; but Danae could see that he was no 
common man by his stature, and his walk, and his 
flowing golden hair and beard ; and by the two ser- 
vants who came behind him, carrying baskets for his 
fish. But she had hardly time to look at him before 


PERSEUS. 


21 


he had laid aside his trident, and leapt down the 
rocks, and thrown his casting-net so surely over 
Danae and the chest that he drew it, and her, and 
the baby, safe upon a ledge of rock. 

Then the fisherman took Danae by the hand, and 
lifted her out of the chest, and said : 

“O beautiful damsel, what strange chance has 
brought you to this island in so frail a ship? AVho 
are you, and whence? Surely you are some king’s 
daughter; and this boy has somewhat more than 
mortal. ” 

And as he spoke, he pointed to the babe ; for its 
face shone like the morning star. 

But Danae only held down her head, and sobbed 
out: 

“ Tell me to what land I have come, unhappy that 
I am; and among what men I have fallen?" 

And he said : “ This isle is called Seriphos, and I 
am a Hellen, and dwell in it. I am the brother of 
Polydectes the king; and men call me Dictys the 
netter, because I catch the fish of the shore." 

Then Danae fell down at his feet, and embraced 
his knees, and cried : 

“ Oh, Sir, have pity upon a stranger, whom a cruel 
doom has driven to your land; and let me live in 
your house as a servant; but treat me honourably, for 
I was once a king’s daughter, and this my boy (as 
you have truly said) is of no common race. I will 


22 


PERSEUS. 


not be a charge to you, or eat the bread of idleness; 
for I am more skilful in weaving and embroidery 
than all the maidens of my land.” 

And she was going on; but Dictys stopped her, 
and raised her up and said : 

“ My daughter, I am old, and my hairs are growing 
gray, while I have no children to make my home 
cheerful. Come with me, then, and you shall be a 
daughter to me and to my wife, and this babe shall 
be our grandchild. For I fear the gods, and show 
hospitality to all strangers; knowing that good deeds, 
like evil ones, always return to those who do them.” 

So Danae was comforted, and went home with 
Dictys the good fisherman, and was a daughter to him 
and to his wife till fifteen years were past. 


PART II. 


HOW PERSEUS VOWED A RASH VOW. 

Fifteen years were past and gone, and the babe 
was now grown to be a tall lad and a sailor, and went 
many voyages after merchandise to the islands round. 
His mother called him Perseus : but all the people in 
Seriphos said that he was not the son of mortal man 
and called him the son of Zeus, the king of the Im- 
mortals. For though he was but fifteen, he was taller 
by a head than any man in the island ; and he was 
the most skilful of all in running and wrestling and 
boxing, and in throwing the quoit and the javelin, 
and in rowing with the oar, and in playing on the 
harp, and in all which befits a man. And he was 
brave and truthful, gentle and courteous, for good 
old Dictys had trained him well; and well it was for 
Perseus that he had done so. For now Danae and 
her son fell into great danger, and Perseus had need 
of all his wit to defend his mother and himself. 

I said thaf Dictys’ brother was Polydectes, king of 
the island. He was not a righteous man, like Dictys, 
but greedy, and cunning, and cruel. And when he 


24 


PERSEUS. 


saw fair Danae, he wanted to marry her. But she 
would not; for she did not love him, and cared for 
no one but her boy, and her boy’s father, whom she 
never hoped to see again. At last Polydectes became 
furious; and while Perseus was away at sea, he took 
poor Danae away from Dictys, saying, “ If you will 
not be my wife, you shall be my slave.” So Danae 
was made a slave, and had to fetch water from the 
well, and grind in the mill, and perhaps was beaten, 
and wore a heavy chain, because she would not marry 
that cruel king. But Perseus was far away over the 
seas in the isle of Samos, little thinking how his 
mother was languishing in grief. 

Now one day at Samos, while the ship was lading, 
Perseus wandered into a pleasant wood to get out of 
the sun, and sat down on the turf, and fell asleep. 
And as he slept, a strange dream came to him ; the 
strangest dream which he had ever had in his life. 

There came a lady to him through the wood, taller 
than he, or any mortal man : but beautiful exceed- 
ingly, with great gray eyes, clear and piercing, but 
strangely soft and mild. On her head was a helmet, 
and in her hand a spear. And over her shoulder, 
above her long blue robes, hung a goatskin, which 
bore up a mighty shield of brass, polished like a mir- 
ror. She stood and looked at him with her clear 
gray eyes; and Perseus saw that her eyelids never 
moved, nor her eyeballs, but looked straight through 


PERSEUS . 


25 


and through him, and into his very heart, as if she 
could see all the secrets of his soul, and knew all that 
he had ever thought or longed for since the day that 
he was born. And Perseus dropped his eyes, trem- 
bling and blushing, as the wonderful lady spoke. 

“Perseus, you must do an errand for me.” 

“Who are you, lady? And how do you know my 
name?” 

“I am Pallas Athene; and I know the thoughts of 
all men’s hearts, and discern their manhood or their 
baseness. And from the souls of clay I turn away; 
and they are blest, but not by me. They fatten at 
ease, like sheep in the pasture, and eat what they did 
not sow, like oxen in the stall. They grow and 
spread, like the gourd along the ground: but like 
the gourd, they give no shade to the traveller; and 
when they are ripe death gathers them, and they go 
down unloved into hell, and their name vanishes out 
of the land. 

“ But to the souls of fire I give more fire, and to 
those who are manful I give a might more than man’s. 
These are the heroes, the sons of Immortals, who are 
blest, but not like the souls of clay. For I drive 
them forth by strange paths, Perseus, that they might 
fight the Titans and the monsters, the enemies of 
Gods and men. Through doubt and need, danger 
and battle, I drive them ; and some of them are slain 
in the flower of youth, no man knows when or where; 


26 


PERSEUS. 


and some of them win noble names, and a fair and 
green old age; but what will be their latter end I 
know not, and none save Zeus, the father of Gods and 
men. Tell me now, Perseus, which of these two 
sorts of men seem to you more blest?” 

Then Perseus answered boldly : “ Better to die in 
the flower of youth, on the chance of winning a noble 
name, than to live at ease like the sheep, and die un- 
loved and unrenowned.” 

Then that strange lady laughed', and held up her 
brazen shield, and cried: “See here, Perseus, dare 
you face such a monster as this, and slay it, that I 
may place its head upon this shield?” 

And in the mirror of the shield there appeared a 
face, and as Perseus looked on it his blood ran cold. 
It was the face of a beautiful woman ; but her cheeks 
were pale as death, and her brows were knit with 
everlasting pain, and her lips were thin and bitter 
like a snake’s; and instead of hair, vipers wreathed 
about her temples and shot out their forked tongues, 
while round her head were folded wings like an eagle’s, 
and on her bosom claws of brass. 

And Perseus looked a while, and then said : “ If 
there is anything so fierce and foul on earth, it 
were a noble deed to kill it. Where can I find the 
monster?” 

Then the strange lady smiled again, and said : “ Not 
yet ; you are too young, and too unskilled ; for this is 


PERSEUS . 


27 


Medusa the Gorgon, the mother of a monstrous brood. 
Return to your home, and do the work which waits 
there for you. You must play the man in that before I 
can think you worthy to go in search of the Gorgon.” 

Then Perseus would have spoken, but the strange 
lady vanished, and he awoke; and behold, it was a 
dream. But day and night Perseus saw before him 
the face of that dreadful woman, with the vipers 
writhing round her head. 

So he returned home; and when he came to Seri- 
phos, the first thing which he heard was that his 
mother was a slave in the house of Polydectes. 

Grinding his teeth with rage, he went out, and 
away to the king’s palace, and through the men’s 
rooms, and the women’s rooms, and so through all 
the house (for no one dared to stop him, so terrible 
and fair was he), till he found his mother sitting on 
the floor, turning the stone hand-mill, and weeping 
as she turned it. And he lifted her up, and kissed 
her, and bade her follow him forth. But before they 
could pass out of the room Polydectes came in, 
raging. And when Perseus saw him, he flew upon 
him as the mastiff flies on the boar. “ Villain and ty- 
rant!” he cried; “is this your respect for the Gods, 
and thy mercy to strangers and widows? You shall 
die!” And because he had no sword, he caught up 
the stone hand-mill, and he lifted it to dash out Poly- 
dectes’ brains. 


28 


PERSEUS. 


But his mother clung to him, shrieking, “ Oh, my 
son, we are strangers, and helpless in the land ; and 
if you kill the king, all the people will fall on us, 
and we shall both die.” 

Good Dictys, too, who had come in, entreated him : 
“ Remember that he is my brother. Remember how 
I have brought you up, and trained you as my own 
son, and spare him for my sake.” 

Then Perseus lowered his hand; and Polydectes, 
who had been trembling all this while like a coward, 
because he knew that he was in the wrong, let Per- 
seus and his mother pass. 

Perseus took his mother to the temple of Athene, 
and there the priestess made her one of the temple- 
sweepers; for there they knew she would be safe, and 
not even Polydectes would dare to drag her away from 
the altar. And there Perseus, and the good Dictys, 
and his wife, came to visit her every day; while Poly- 
dectes, not being able to get what he wanted by force, 
cast about in his wicked heart how he might get it by 
cunning. 

Now he was sure that he could never get back 
Danae as long as Perseus was in the island ; so he 
made a plot to rid himself of him. And first he pre- 
tended to have forgiven Perseus, and to have forgot- 
ten Danae ; so that, for a while, all went as smoothly 
as ever. 

Next he proclaimed a great feast, and invited to it 


PERSEUS. 


29 


all the chiefs, and land -owners, and the young men 
of the island, and among them Perseus, that they 
might all do him homage as their king, and eat of 
his banquet in his hall. 

On the appointed day they all came; and, as the 
custom was then, each guest brought his present with 
him to the king: one a horse, another a shawl, or a 
ring, or a sword ; and those who had nothing better 
brought a basket of grapes, or of game; but Perseus 
brought nothing, for he had nothing to bring, being 
but a poor sailor-lad. 

He was ashamed, however, to go into the king’s 
presence without his gift, and he was too proud to 
ask Dictys to lend him one. So he stood at the door 
sorrowfully, watching the rich men go in; and his 
face grew very red as they pointed at him, and smiled, 
and whispered, “What has that foundling to give?" 

Now, this was what Polydectes wanted; and as soon 
as he heard that Perseus stood without, he bade them 
bring him in, and asked him scornfully before them 
all, — “Am I not your king, Perseus, and have I not 
invited you to my feast? Where is your present, 
then?” 

Perseus blushed and stammered, while all the proud 
men round laughed, and some of them began jeering 
him openly. “This fellow was thrown ashore here 
like a piece of weed or driftwood, and yet he is too 
proud. to bring a gift to the king.” 


30 


PERSEUS . 


“ And though he does not know who his father is, 
he is vain enough to let the old women call him the 
son of Zeus.” 

And so forth, till poor Perseus grew mad with 
shame, and hardly knowing what he said, cried out, — 
“A present! who are you who talk of presents? See 
if I do not bring a nobler one than all of yours to- 
gether!” 

So he said, boasting; and yet he felt in his heart 
that he was braver than all those scotfers, and more 
able to do some glorious deed. 

“ Hear him ! Hear the boaster ! What is it to be?” 
cried they all, laughing louder than ever. 

Then his dream at Samos came into his mind, and 
he cried aloud, “The head of the Gorgon.” 

He was half afraid after he had said the words ; for 
all laughed louder than ever, and Polydectes loudest 
of all. * 

“You have promised to bring me the Gorgon’s 
head? Then never appear again in this island with- 
out it. Go!” 

Perseus ground his teeth with rage, for he saw that 
he had fallen into a trap ; but his promise lay upon 
him, and he went out without a word. 

Down to the cliffs he went, and looked across the 
broad blue sea; and he wondered if his dream were 
true, and prayed in the bitterness of his soul. 

“Pallas Athene, was my dream true? and shall I 


PERSEUS. 


31 


slay the Gorgon? If thou didst really show me her 
face, let me not come to shame as a liar and boastful. 
Rashly and angrily I promised : but cunningly and 
patiently will I perform.” 

But there was no answer, nor sign ; neither thun- 
der or any appearance ; not even a cloud in the sky. 

And three times Perseus called, weeping: “ Rashly 
and angrily I promised; but cunningly and patiently 
will I perform.” 

Then he saw afar off above the sea a small white 
cloud, as bright as silver. And it came on, nearer 
and nearer, till its brightness dazzled his eyes. 

Perseus wondered at that strange cloud, for there 
was no other cloud all round the sky; and he trem- 
bled as it touched the cliff below. And as it touched, 
it broke, and parted, and within it appeared Pallas 
Athene, as he had seen her at Samos in his dream, 
and beside her a young man more light-limbed than 
the stag, whose eyes were like sparks of fire. By his 
side was a scimitar of diamond, all of one clear, 
precious stone, and on his feet were golden sandals, 
from the heels of which grew living wings. 

They looked upon Perseus keenly, and yet they 
never moved their eyes; and they came up the cliffs 
towards him more swiftly than the sea-gull, and yet 
they never moved their feet, nor did the breeze stir 
the robes about their limbs; only the wings of the 
youth’s sandals quivered, like a hawk’s when he 


32 


PERSEUS . 


hangs above the cliff. And Perseus fell down and 
worshipped, for he knew that they were more than 
man. 

But Athene stood before him and spoke gently, 
and bid him have no fear. Then — 

“ Perseus,” she said, “ he who overcomes in one 
trial merits thereby a sharper trial still. You have 
braved Polydectes, and done manfully. Dare you 
brave Medusa the Gorgon?” 

And Perseus said, “ Try me; for since you spoke to 
me in Samos, a new soul has come into my breast, 
and I should be ashamed not to dare anything which 
I can do. Show me, then, how I can do this.” 

“ Perseus,” said Athene, “ think well before you 
attempt; for this deed requires a seven years’ journey, 
in which you cannot repent or turn back, nor escape; 
but if your heart fails you, you must die in the un- 
shapen land, where no man will ever find your bones.” 

“Better so than live here, useless and despised,” 
said Perseus. “ Tell me, then, oh, tell me, fair and 
wise Goddess, of your great kindness and condescen- 
sion, how I can do but this one thing, and then if, 
need be, die!” 

Then Athene smiled and said, — 

“Be patient, and listen; for if you forget my 
words, you will indeed die. You must go northward 
to the country of the Hyperboreans, who live beyond 
the pole, at the sources of the cold north wind, till 


PERSEUS. 


33 


yon find the three Gray Sisters, who have but one eye 
and one tooth between them. You must ask them 
the way to the Nymphs, the daughters of the Even- 
ing Star, who dance about the golden tree, in the 
Atlantic island of the west. They will tell you the 
way to the Gorgon, that you may slay her, my enemy, 
the mother of monstrous beasts. Once she was a 
maiden as beautiful as morn, till in her pride she 
sinned a sin at which the sun hid his face; and from 
that day her hair was turned to vipers, and her hands 
to eagle’s claws; and her heart was filled with shame 
and rage, and her lips with bitter venom; and her 
eyes became so terrible that whosoever looks on them 
is turned to stone; and her children are the winged 
horse, and the giant of the golden sword; and her 
grand-children are Echidna the witch-adder, and 
Geryon the three-headed tyrant, who feeds his herds 
beside the herds of hell. So she became the sister of 
the Gorgons, Stheino and Euryte the abhorred, the 
daughters of the Queen of the Sea. Touch them not, 
for they are immortal : but bring me only Medusa’s 
head.” 

“And I will bring it!” said Perseus; “but how am 
I to escape her eyes? Will she not freeze me too into 
stone?” 

“You shall take this polished shield,” said Athene; 
“and when you come near her look not at her her- 
self, but at her image in the brass; so you may strike 
3 


34 


PERSEUS. 


her safely. And when you have struck off her head, 
wrap it, with your face turned away, in the folds of 
the goat-skin on which the shield hangs, the hide of 
Amaltheie, the nurse of the iEgis-holder. So you 
will bring it safely back to me, and win to yourself 
renown and a place among the heroes who feast with 
the Immortals upon the peak where no winds blow.” 

Then Perseus said, “I will go, though I die in 
going. But how shall I cross the seas without a 
ship? And who will show me my way? And when 
I find her, how shall I slay her, if her scales be iron 
and brass?” 

Then the young man spoke: “These sandals of 
mine will bear you across the seas, and over hill and 
dale like a bird, as they bear me all day long; for I 
am Hermes, the far-famed Argus-slayer, the messen- 
ger of the Immortals who dwell on Olympus.” 

Then Perseus fell down and worshipped, while the 
young man spoke again. 

“ The sandals themselves will guide you on the 
road, for they are divine and cannot stray; and this 
sword itself, the Argus-slayer, will kill her, for it is 
divine, and needs no second stroke. Arise, and gird 
them on, and go forth.” 

So Perseus arose, and girded on the sandals and 
the sword. 

And Athene cried, “Now leap from the cliff, and 
be gone.” 


PEBSEUS. 


35 


But Perseus lingered. 

“May I not bid farewell to my mother and to 
Dictys? And may I not offer burnt-offerings to you 
and to Hermes, the far-famed Argus-slayer, and to 
Father Zeus above?” 

“You shall not bid farewell to your mother, lest 
your heart relent at her weeping. I will comfort her 
and Dictys until you return in peace. Nor shall you 
offer burnt-offerings to the Olympians; for your offer- 
ing shall be Medusa’s head. Leap, and trust in the 
armor of the Immortals.” 

Then Perseus looked down the cliff and shuddered; 
but he was ashamed to show his dread. Then he 
thought of Medusa and the renown before him, and 
he leaped into the empty air. 

And behold, instead of falling he floated, and 
stood, and ran along the sky. He looked back, but 
Athene had vanished, and Hermes; and the sandals 
led him on northward ever, like a crane who follows 
the spring toward the Ister fens. 


i 


PART III. 

HOW PERSEUS SLEW THE GORGON. 

So Perseus started on his journey, going dry-shod 
over land and sea; and his heart was high and joy- 
ful, for the winged sandals bore him each day a seven 
days’ journey. 

And he went by Cythnus, and by Ceos, and the 
pleasant Cyclades to Attica; and past Athens, and 
Thebes, and the Copaic lake, and up the vale of 
Cephissus, and past the peaks of (Eta and Pindus, 
and over the rich Thessalian plains, till the sunny 
hills of Greece were behind him, and before him were 
the wilds of the north. Then he passed the Thracian 
mountains, and many a barbarous tribe, Paeons and 
Dardans and Triballi, till he came to the Ister stream, 
and the dreary Scythian plains. And he walked 
across the Ister dry-shod, and away through the 
moors and fens, day and night, toward the bleak 
northwest, turning neither to the right hand nor the 
left, till he came to the TJnshapen Land, and the 
place which has no name. 

And seven days he walked through it, on a path 


PERSEUS. 


37 


which few can tell — for those who have trodden it 
like least to speak of it, and those who go there again 
in dreams are glad enough when they awake — till he 
came to the edge of the everlasting night, where the 
air was full of feathers, and the soil was hard with 
ice ; and there at last he found the three Gray Sisters, 
by the shore of the freezing sea, nodding upon a 
white log of drift-wood, beneath the cold white win- 
ter moon ; and they chanted a long song together, 
“Why the old times were better than the new.” 

There was no living thing around them, not a fly, 
not a moss upon the rocks. Neither seal nor seagull 
dare come near, lest the ice should clutch them in its 
claws. The surge broke up in foam, but it fell again 
in flakes of snow; and it frosted the hair of the three 
Gray Sisters, and the bones in the ice-cliff above their 
heads. They passed the eye from one to the other, 
but for all that they could not see; and they passed the 
tooth from one to the other, but for all that they could 
not eat; and they sat in the full glare of the moon, 
but they were none the warmer for her beams. And 
Perseus pitied the three Gray Sisters; but they did 
not pity themselves. 

So he said, “ Oh, venerable mothers, wisdom is the 
daughter of old age. You therefore should know 
many things. Tell me, if you can, the path to the 
Gorgon.” 

Then one cried, “ Who is this who reproaches us 


38 


PERSEUS. 


with old age?” And another, “This is the voice of 
one of the children of men.” 

And he, “I do not reproach, but honor your old 
age, and I am one of the sons of men and of the 
heroes. The rulers of Olympus have sent me to you 
to ask the way to the Gorgon.” 

Then one — “ There are new rulers in Olympus, and 
all new things are bad.” And another — “We hate 
your rulers, and the heroes, and all the children of 
men. We are the kindred of the Titans, and the 
Giants, and the Gorgons, and the ancient monsters 
of the deep.” And another — “Who is this rash and 
insolent man, who pushes unbidden into our world?” 
And the first— “ There never was such a world as ours, 
nor will be; if we let him see it, he will spoil it all.” 

Then one cried, “Give me the eye, that I may see 
him”; and another, “Give me the tooth, that I may 
bite him.” But Perseus, when he saw that they were 
foolish and proud, and did not love the children of 
men, left off pitying them, and said to himself, 
“ Hungry men must needs be hasty; if I stay making 
many words here, I shall be starved.” Then he 
stepped close to them, and watched till they passed 
the eye from hand to hand. And as they groped 
about between themselves, he held out his own hand 
gently, till one of them put the eye into it, fancying 
that it was the hand of her sister. Then he sprang 
back, and laughed, and cried — 


PERSEUS. 


39 


“ Cruel and proud old women, I have your eye; 
and I will throw it into the sea, unless you tell me 
the path to the Gorgon, and swear to me that you 
tell me right.” 

Then they wept, and chattered, and scolded ; but 
in vain. They were forced to tell the truth, though 
when they told it, Perseus could hardly make out the 
road. 

“You must go,” they said, “foolish boy, to the 
southward, into the ugly glare of the sun, till you 
come to Atlas the Giant, who holds the heaven and the 
earth apart. And you must ask his daughters, the 
Hesperides, who are young and foolish like yourself. 
And now give us back our eye ; for we have forgotten 
all the rest.” 

So Perseus gave them back their eye; hut instead 
of using it, they nodded and fell fast asleep, and were 
turned into blocks of ice, till the tide came up and 
washed them all away. And now they float up and 
down like icebergs forever, weeping whenever they 
meet the sunshine, and the fruitful summer, and the 
warm south wind, which fill young hearts with joy. 

But Perseus leaped away to the southward, leaving 
the snow and the ice behind; past the' isle of the 
Hyperboreans, and the tin isles, and the long Iberian 
shore ; while the sun rose higher day by day upon a 
bright blue summer sea. And the terns and the sea- 
gulls swept laughing round his head, and called to 


40 


PERSEUS. 


him to stop and play; and the dolphins gambolled up 
as he passed, and offered to carry him on their backs. 
And all night long the sea-nymphs sang sweetly, and 
the Tritons blew upon their conchs, as they played 
round Galataea their queen, in her car of pearled 
shells. Day by day the sun rose higher, and leaped 
more swiftly into the sea at night, and more swiftly 
out of the sea at dawn ; while Perseus skimmed over 
the billows like a seagull, and his feet were never 
wetted; and leapt on from wave to wave, and his 
limbs were never weary, till he saw far away a mighty 
mountain, all rose-red in the setting sun. Its feet 
were wrapped in forests, and its head in wreaths of 
clouds; and Perseus knew that it was Atlas, who 
holds the heavens and the earth apart. 

He came to the mountain, and leapt on shore, and 
wandered upward among pleasant valleys and water- 
falls, and tall trees and strange ferns and flowers; but 
there was no smoke rising from any glen, nor house, 
nor sign of man. 

At last he heard sweet voices singing; and he 
guessed that he was come to the garden of the 
Nymphs, the daughters of the Evening Star. 

They sang like nightingales among the thickets, 
and Perseus stopped to hear their song; but the 
words which they spoke he could not understand; 
no, nor no man after him for many a hundred years. 
So he stepped forward and saw them dancing, hand 


PERSEUS. 


41 


in hand around the charmed tree, which bent under 
its golden fruit; and round the tree-foot was coiled 
the dragon, old Ladon the sleepless snake, who lies 
there forever, listening to the song of the maidens, 
blinking and watching with dry bright eyes. 

Then Perseus stopped, not because he feared the 
dragon, but because he was bashful before those fair 
maids; but when they saw him, they too stopped, and 
called to him with trembling voices, — 

“Who are you? Are you Heracles the mighty, 
who will come to rob our garden, and carry off: our 
golden fruit?” And he answered, — 

“I am not Heracles the mighty, and I want none 
of your golden fruit. Tell me, fair nymphs, the way 
which leads to the Gorgon, that I may go on my way 
and slay her.” 

“Not yet, not yet, fair boy; come dance with us 
around the tree, in the garden which knows no win- 
ter, the home of the south wind and the sun. Come 
hither and play with us a while; we have danced alone 
here for a thousand years, and our hearts are weary 
with longing for a playfellow. So come, come, 
come!” 

“I cannot dance with you, fair maidens, for I 
must do the errand of the Immortals. So tell me the 
way to the Gorgon, lest I wander and perish in the 
waves.” 

Then they sighed and wept ; and answered : — • 


42 


PERSEUS . 


“The Gorgon! she will freeze yon into stone.” 

“ It is better to die like a hero than to live like an 
ox in a stall. The Immortals have lent me weapons, 
and they will give me wit to use them.” 

Then they sighed again and answered : “ Fair boy, 

if you are bent on your own ruin, be it so. We know 
not the way to the Gorgon ; but we will ask the giant 
Atlas, above upon the mountain peak, the brother of 
our father, the silver Evening Star. He sits aloft, 
and sees across the ocean, and far away into the Un- 
shapen Land.” 

So they went up the mountain to Atlas, their 
uncle, and Perseus went up with them. And they 
found the giant kneeling, as he held the heavens and 
the earth apart. 

They asked him, and he answered mildly, point- 
ing to the sea-board with his mighty hand : “ I can 

see the Gorgons lying on an island far away, but this 
youth can never come near them, unless he has the 
hat of darkness, which whosoever wears cannot be 
seen.” 

Then cried Perseus, “Where is that hat, that I 
may find it?” 

But the giant smiled. “No living mortal can find 
that hat, for it lies in the depths of Hades, in the 
regions of the dead. But my nieces are immortal, 
and they shall fetch it for you, if you will promise 
me one thing and keep your faith.” 


PERSEUS. 


43 


Then Perseus promised; and the giant said: 
“ When you come back with the head of Medusa, you 
shall show me the beautiful horror, that I may lose 
my feeling and my breathing, and become a stone for- 
ever ; for it is weary labor for me to hold the heavens 
and the earth apart.” 

Then Perseus promised; and the eldest of the 
nymphs went down, and into a dark cavern among 
the cliffs, out of which came smoke and thunder, for 
it was one of the mouths of Hell. 

And Perseus and the nymphs sat down seven days, 
and waited, trembling, till the nymph came up again; 
and her face was pale, and her eyes dazzled with the 
light, for she had been long in the dreary darkness; 
but in her hand was the magic hat. 

Then all the nymphs kissed Perseus, and wept over 
him a long while; but he was only impatient to be 
gone. And at last they put the hat upon his head, 
and he vanished out of their sight. 

But Perseus went on boldly, past many an ugly 
sight, far away into the heart of the Unsliapen Land, 
beyond the streams of Ocean, to the isles where no 
ship cruises, where is neither night nor day, where 
nothing is in its right place, and nothing has a name; 
till he heard the rustle of the Gorgons’ wings, and 
saw the glitter of their brazen talons; and then he 
knew that it was time to halt, lest Medusa should 
freeze him into stone. 


44 


PERSEUS. 


He thought a while with himself, and remembered 
Athene’s words. He rose aloft into the air, and held 
the mirror of the shield above his head, and looked 
up into it that he might see all that was below him. 

And he saw the three Gorgons sleeping, as huge as 
elephants. He knew that they could not see him, 
because the hat of darkness hid him; and yet he 
trembled as he sank down near them, so terrible were 
those brazen claws. 

Two of the Gorgons were foul as swine, and lay 
sleeping heavily, as swine sleep, wittf their mighty 
wings outspread; but Medusa tossed to and fro rest- 
lessly, and as she tossed, Perseus pitied her, she 
looked so fair and sad. Her plumage was like the 
rainbow, and her face was like the face of a nymph, 
only her eyebrows were knit, and her lips clenched, 
with everlasting care and pain ; and her long neck 
gleamed so white in the mirror that Perseus had not 
the heart to strike, and said : “ Ah, that it had been 

either of her sisters!” 

But as he looked, from among her tresses the 
vipers’ heads awoke, and peeped up with their bright 
dry eyes, and showed their fangs, and hissed; and 
Medusa, as she tossed, threw back her wings, and 
showed her brazen claws ; and Perseus saw that, for all 
her beauty, she was as foul and venomous as the rest. 

Then he came down and stepped to her boldly, and 
looked steadfastly on his mirror, and struck with 


PERSEUS. 


45 


Herpe stoutly once; and he did not need to strike 
again. 

Then he wrapped the head in the goatskin, turn- 
ing away his eyes, and sprang into the air aloft, faster 
than he ever sprang before. 

For Medusa’s wings and talons rattled as she sank 
dead upon the rocks; and her two foul sisters woke, 
and saw her lying dead. 

Into the air they sprang yelling and looked for him 
who had done the deed. Thrice they swung round 
and round, like hawks who beat for a partridge; and 
thrice they snuffed round and round, like hounds 
who draw upon a deer. At last they struck upon 
the scent of the blood, and they checked for a moment 
to make sure; and then on they rushed with a fearful 
howl, while the wind rattled hoarse in their wings. 

On they rushed, sweeping and flapping, like eagles 
after a hare; and Perseus’ blood ran cold, for all his 
courage, as he saw them come howling on his track ; 
and he cried: “Bear me well, now, brave sandals, 
for the hounds of death are at my heels!” 

And well the brave sandals bore him aloft through 
cloud and sunshine, across the shoreless sea; and fast 
followed the hounds of Death, as the roar of their 
wings came down the wind. But the roar came down 
fainter and fainter, and the howl of their voices died 
away; for the sandals were too swift, even for Gor- 
gons, and by nightfall they were far behind, two black 


46 


PERSEUS. 


specks in the southern sky, till the sun sank and he 
saw them no more. 

Then he came again to Atlas, and the garden of 
the Nymphs; and when the giant heard him coming, 
he groaned, and said: “Fulfil thy promise to me.” 
Then Perseus held up to him the Gorgon’s head, and 
he had rest from all his toil ; for he became a crag of 
stone, which sleeps forever far above the clouds. 

Then he thanked the Nymphs, and asked them: 
“By what road shall I go 'homeward again, for I 
wandered far round in coming hither!” 

And they wept and cried : “ Go home no more, 

but stay and play with us, the lonely maidens, who 
dwell forever far away from gods and men.” 

But he refused, and they told him his road and 
said: “Take with you this magic fruit, which, if 
you eat once, you will not hunger for seven days. 
For you must go eastward and eastward ever, over 
the doleful Lybian shore, which Poseidon gave to 
Father Zeus, when he burst open the Bosphorus and 
the Hellespont, and drowned the fair Lectonian land. 
And Zeus took that land in exchange, a fair bargain, 
much bad ground for a little good, and to this day it 
lies waste and desert, with shingle, and rock, and 
sand.” 

Then they kissed Perseus, and wept over him, and 
he leapt down the mountain and went on, lessening 
and lessening like a seagull, away and out to sea. 


PART IV. 

HOW PERSEUS CAME TO THE ^ETHIOPS. 

So Perseus flitted onward to the northeast, over 
many a league of sea, till he came to the rolling sand- 
hills and the dreary Lybian shore. 

And he flitted on across the desert, over rock- 
ledges, and banks of shingle, and level waste of sand, 
and shell-drifts bleaching in the sunshine, and the 
skeletons of great sea monsters, and dead bones of 
ancient giants, strewn up and down upon the old sea- 
floor. And as he went, the blood-drops fell to the 
earth from the Gorgon’s head, and became poisonous 
asps and adders, which breed in the desert to this 
day. 

Over the sands he went — he never knew how far or 
how long — feeding on the fruit which the Nymphs 
had given him, till he saw the hills of the Psylli, and 
the Dwarfs who fought with cranes. Their spears 
were of reeds and rushes, and their houses of the egg- 
shells of the cranes; and Perseus laughed, and went 
his way to the northeast, hoping all day long to see 
the blue Mediterranean sparkling, that he might fly 
across it to his home. 


48 


PERSEUS. 


But now came down a mighty wind, and swept him 
back southward toward the desert. All day long he 
strove against it; but even the winged sandals could 
not prevail. So he was forced to float down the wind 
all night ; and when the morning dawned there was 
nothing to be seen, save the same old hateful waste of 
sand. 

And out of the north the sand-storms rushed upon 
him, blood-red pillars and wreaths, blotting out the 
noonday sun ; and Perseus fled before them, lest he 
should be choked by the burning dust. At last the 
gale fell calm, and he tried to go northward again; 
but again came down the sand-storms and swept him 
back into the waste, and then all was calm and cloud- 
less as before. Seven days he strove against the 
storms, and seven days he was driven back, till he 
was spent with thirst and hunger, and his tongue 
clove to the roof of his mouth. Here and there he 
fancied that he saw a fair lake, and the sunbeams 
shining on the water; but when he came to it it van- 
ished at his feet, and there was naught but burning 
sand. And if he had not been of the race of the Im- 
mortals he would have perished in the waste; but 
his life was strong within him, because it was more 
than man’s. 

Then he cried to Athene, and said, — 

“ Oh, fair and pure, if thou hearest me, wilt thou 
leave me here to die of drought? I have brought 


PERSEUS. 


49 


thee the Gorgon’s head at thy bidding, and hitherto 
thou hast prospered my journey; dost thou desert me 
at the last? Else why will not these immortal san- 
dals prevail, even against the desert storms? Shall I 
never see my mother more, and the blue ripple round 
Seriphos, and the sunny hills of Hellas?” 

So he prayed ; and after he had prayed there was a 
great silence. 

The heaven was still above his head, and the sand 
was still beneath his feet; and Perseus looked' up, 
but there was nothing but the blinding sun in the 
blinding blue; and round him, but there was nothing 
but the blinding sand. 

And Perseus stood still a while, and waited, and 
said — “ Surely I am not here without the will of the 
Immortals, for Athene will not lie. Were not these 
sandals to lead me in the right road? Then the road 
in which I have tried to go must be a wrong road.” 

Then suddenly his ears were opened, and he heard 
the sound of running water. And at that his heart 
was lifted up, though he scarcely dare believe his 
ears; and weary as he was, he hurried forward, 
though he could scarcely stand upright; and within a 
bowshot of him was a glen in the sand, and marble 
rocks, and date-trees, and a lawn of gay green grass. 
And through the lawn a streamlet sparkled and wan- 
dered out beyond the trees, and vanished in the sand. 

The water trickled among the rocks, and a pleasant 
4 


50 


PERSEUS. 


breeze rustled in the dry date-branches ; and Perseus 
laughed for joy, and leapt down the cliff, and drank 
of the cool water, and ate of the dates, and slept upon 
the turf, and leapt up and went forward again: but 
not toward the north this time; for he said — “Surely 
Athene has sent me hither, and will not have me go 
homeward yet. What if there be another noble deed 
to be done before I see the sunny hills of Hellas?’' 

So he went east, and east forever, by fresh oases 
and fountains, date-palms, and lawns of grass, till he 
saw before him a mighty mountain-wall, all rose-red 
in the setting sun. 

Then he towered in the air like an eagle, for his 
limbs were strong again ; and he flew all night across 
the mountain till the day began to dawn, and rosy- 
fingered Eos came blushing up the sky. And then, 
behold! beneath him was the long green garden of 
Egypt, and the shining stream of the Nile. 

And he saw cities walled up to heaven, and tem- 
ples, and obelisks, and pyramids, and giant Gods of 
stone. And he came down amid fields of barley, and 
flax, and millet, and clambering gourds; and saw the 
people coming out of the gates of a great city, and 
setting to work, each in his place, among the water- 
courses, parting the streams among the plants cun- 
ningly with their feet, according to the wisdom of the 
Egyptians. But when they saw him they all stopped 
their work, and gathered round him, and cried, — 


PERSEUS. 


51 


“ Who art thou, fair youth? and what bearest thou 
beneath thy goatskin there? Surely thou art one of 
the Immortals; for thy skin is white like ivory, and 
ours is red like clay. Thy hair is like threads of 
gold, and ours is black and curled. Surely thou arfc 
one of the Immortals;” — and they would have wor- 
shipped him then and there: but Perseus said, — 

“I am not one of the Immortals; but I am a hero 
of the Hellens. And I have slain the Gorgon in the 
wilderness, and bear her head with me. Give me 
food, therefore, that I may go forward and finish my 
work.” 

Then they gave him food, and fruit, and wine; 
but they would not let him go. And when the news 
came into the city that the Gorgon was slain, the 
priests came out to meet him, and the maidens, with 
songs and dances, and timbrels and harps; and they 
would have brought him to their temple and to their 
king; but Perseus put on the hat of darkness, and 
vanished away out of their sight. 

Therefore the Egyptians looked long for his return, 
but in vain, and worshipped him as a hero, and made 
a statue of him in Chemmis, which stood for many a 
hundred years; and they said that he appeared to 
them at times, with sandals a cubic long; and that 
whenever he appeared the season was fruitful, and 
the Nile rose high that year. 

Then Perseus went to the eastward, along the Red 


52 


PERSEUS. 


Sea shore; and then, because he was afraid to go into 
the Arabian deserts, he turned northward once more, 
and this time no storm hindered him. 

He went past the Isthmus, and Mount Casius, and 
the vast Sebonian bog, and up the shore of Palestine, 
where the dark-faced HSthiops dwelt. 

He flew on past pleasant hills and valleys, like 
Argos itself, or Lacedaemon, or the fair Yale of 
Tempe. But the lowlands were all drowned by floods, 
and the highlands blasted by fire, and the hills heaved 
like a bubbling cauldron, before the wrath of King 
Poseidon, the shaker of the earth. 

And Perseus feared to go inland, but flew along the 
shore above the sea; and he went on all the day, and 
the sky was black with smoke; and he went on all 
the night, and the sky was red with flame. 

And at the dawn of day he looked toward the cliffs; 
and at the water’s edge, under a black rock, he saw a 
white image stand. 

“This," thought he, “must surely be the statue of 
some sea-God ; I will go near and see what kind of 
Gods these barbarians worship.” 

So he came near; but when he came it was no 
statue, but a maiden of flesh and blood; for he could 
see her tresses streaming in the breeze; and as he 
came closer still he could see how she shrank and 
shivered, when the waves sprinkled her with cold salt 
spray. Her arms were spread above her head and 


PERSEUS. 


53 


fastened to the rock with chains of brass; and her 
head drooped on her bosom, either with sleep, or 
weariness, or grief. But now and then she looked up 
and wailed, and called her mother; yet she did not 
see Perseus, for the cap of darkness was on his head. 

Full of pity and indignation Perseus drew near and 
looked upon the maid. Her cheeks were darker than 
his were, and her hair was blue-black like a hyacinth; 
but Perseus thought — “ I have never seen so beautiful 
a maiden ; no, not in all our Isles. Surely, she is a 
king’s daughter. Do barbarians treat their kings’ 
daughters thus? She is too fair, at least, to have 
done any wrong. I will speak to her.” 

And lifting the hat from his head, he flashed into 
her sight. She shrieked with terror, and tried to 
hide her face with her hair, for she could not with 
her hands; but Perseus cried, — 

“ Do not fear me, fair one; I am a Hellen, and no 
barbarian. What cruel men have bound you? But 
first I will set you free.” 

And he tore at the fetters; but they were too strong 
for him; while the maiden cried, — 

“Touch me not; I am accursed, devoted as a vic- 
tim to the sea-Gods. They will slay you, if you dare 
to set me free. ” 

“Let them try,” said Perseus; and drawing Herpe 
from his thigh, he cut through the brass as if it had 
been flax. 


54 


PERSEUS. 


“Now,” he said, “you belong to me, and not to 
these sea-Gods, whosoever they may be !” But she only 
called the more on her mother. 

“ Why call on your mother? She can be no mother 
to have left you here. If a bird is dropped out of 
the nest, it belongs to the man who picks it up. If 
a jewel is cast by the wayside, it is his who dare win 
it and wear it, as I will win you and will wear you. 
I know now why Pallas Athene sent me hither. She 
sent me to gain a prize worth all my toil, and more.” 

And he clasped her in his arms, and cried — 
“Where are these sea-Gods, cruel and unjust, who 
doom fair maids to death? I carry the weapons of 
Immortals. Let them measure their strength against 
mine? But tell me, maiden, who you are, and what 
dark fate brought you here.” 

And she answered, weeping — 

“ I am the daughter of Cepheus, King of Iopa, and 
my mother is Cassiopoeia of the beautiful tresses, and 
they called me Andromeda, as long as life was mine. 
And I stand bound here, hapless that I am, for the 
sea-monster’s food, to atone for my mother’s sin. 
For she boasted of me once that I was fairer than 
Atergatis, Queen of the Fishes; so she in her wrath 
sent the sea-floods, and her brother the Fire King 
sent the earthquakes, and wasted all the land ; and 
after the floods a monster bred of the slime? who de- 
vours all living things. And now he must devour 


PERSEUS. 


55 


me, guiltless though I am — me who never harmed a 
living thing, nor saw a fish upon the shore but I gave 
it life, and threw it back into the sea; for in our 
land we eat no fish, for fear of Atergatis their Queen. 
Yet the priests say that nothing but my blood can 
atone for a sin which I never committed.” 

But Perseus laughed, and said — “A sea-monster? 
I have fought with worse than him; I would have 
faced Immortals for your sake; how much more a 
beast of the sea?” 

Then Andromeda looked up at him, and new hope 
was kindled in her breast, so round and fair did he 
stand, with one hand round her, and in the other the 
glittering sword. But she only sighed, and wept the 
more, and cried, — 

“ Why will you die, young as you are? Is there 
not death and sorrow enough in the world already? 
It is noble for me to die, that I may save the lives of 
a whole people; but you, better than them all, why 
should I slay you too? Go you your way; I must go 
mine.” 

But Perseus cried — “Not so; for the Lords of 
Olympus, whom I serve, are the friends of the heroes, 
and help them on to noble deeds. Led by them, I 
slew the Gorgon, the beautiful horror; and not with- 
out them do I come hither, to slay this monster with 
that same Gorgon’s head. Yet hide your eyes when I 
leave you, lest the sight of it freeze you too to stone.” 


56 


PERSEUS. 


But the maiden answered nothing, for she could 
not believe his words. And then, suddenly looking 
up, she pointed to the sea, and shrieked, — 

“ There he comes, with the sunrise, as they prom- 
ised. I must die now, How shall I endure it? Oh, 
go ! Is it not dreadful enough to be torn piecemeal 
without having you to look on?” And she tried to 
thrust him away. 

But he said — “ I go ; yet promise me one thing ere 
I go; that if I slay this beast you will be my wife, 
and come back witli me to my kingdom in fruitful 
Argos, for I am a king’s heir. Promise me, and seal 
it with a kiss.” 

Then she lifted up her face, and kissed him; and 
Perseus laughed for joy, and flew upward, while An- 
dromeda crouched trembling on the rock, waiting for 
what might befall. 

On came the great sea-monster, coasting along like 
a huge black galley, lazily breasting the ripple, and 
stopping at times by creek or headland, to watch for 
the laughter of girls at their bleaching, or cattle 
pawing on the sand-hills, or boys bathing on the 
beach. His great sides were fringed with cluster- 
ing shells and sea-weeds, and the water gurgled 
in and out of his wide jaws, as he rolled along, 
dripping and glistening, in the beams of the morn- 
ing sun. 

At last he saw Andromeda, and shot forward to 


PERSEUS. 


57 


take his prey, while the waves foamed white behind 
him, and before him the fish fled leaping. 

Then down from the height of the air fell Perseus, 
like a shooting star ; down to the crests of the waves, 
while Andromeda hid her face as he shouted; and 
then there was silence for a while. 

At last she looked up trembling, and saw Perseus 
springing toward her; and instead of the monster a 
long black rock, with the sea rippling quietly round it. 

Who then so proud as Perseus, as he leapt back to 
the rock, and lifted his fair Andromeda in his arms, 
and flew with her to the cliff-top, as a falcon carries 
a dove? 

Who so proud as Perseus, and who so joyful as all 
the iEthiop people? For they had stood watching 
the monster from the cliffs, wailing for the maiden’s 
fate. And already a messenger had gone to Cepheus 
and Cassiopoeia, where they sat in sackcloth and 
ashes on the ground, in the innermost palace cham- 
bers, awaiting their daughter’s end. And they came, 
and all the city with them, to see the wonder, with 
songs and with dances, with cymbals and harps, and 
received their daughter back again, as one alive from 
the dead. 

Then Cepheus said — “ Hero of the Hellens, stay 
here with me and be my son-in-law, and I will give 
you the half of my kingdom.” 

“I will be your son-in-law,” said Perseus, “but of 


58 


PERSEUS. 


your kingdom I will have none; for I long after the 
pleasant land of Greece, and my mother who waits 
for me at home.” 

Then Cepheus said — “You must not take my 
daughter away at once, for she is to us like one alive 
from the dead. Stay with us here a year, and after 
that you shall return with honour.” And Perseus 
consented; but before he went to the palace, he bade 
the people bring stones and wood, and built three 
altars, one to Athene, and one to Hermes, and one to 
Father Zeus, and offered bullocks and rams. 

And some said — “ This is a pious man :” yet the 
priests said — “ The Sea Queen will be yet more fierce 
against us, because her monster is slain.” But they 
were afraid to speak aloud, for they feared the Gor- 
gon’s head. So they went up to the palace: and 
when they came in, there stood in the hall Phineus, 
the brother of Cepheus, chafing like a bear robbed of 
her whelps, and with him his sons, and his servants, 
and many an armed man ; and he cried to Cepheus, — 

“You shall not marry your daughter to this 
stranger, of whom no one knows even the name. 
Was not Andromeda betrothed to my son? And now 
she is safe again, has he not a right to claim her?” 

But Perseus laughed and answered — “ If your son 
is in want of a bride, let him save a maiden for him- 
self. As yet he seems but a helpless bridegroom. 
He left this one to die, and dead she is to him. I 


PERSEUS. 


59 


saved her alive, and alive she is to me, but to no one 
else. Ungrateful man! have I not saved your land, 
and the lives of your sons and daughters, and will you 
requite me thus? Go, or it will be worse for you.” 
But all the men-at-arms drew their swords, and 
rushed on him like wild beasts. 

Then he unveiled the Gorgon’s head, and said — 
“This has delivered my bride from one wild beast; 
it shall deliver her from many.” And as he spoke, 
Phineus and all his men-at-arms stopped short, and 
stiffened each man as he stood; and before Perseus 
had drawn the goatskin over the face again, they 
were all turned into stone. 

Then Perseus bade the people bring levers and roll 
them out; and what was done with them after that, 
I cannot tell. 

So they made a great wedding-feast, which lasted 
seven whole days, and who so happy as Perseus and 
Andromeda? 

But on the eighth night Perseus dreamed a 
dream; and he saw standing beside him Pallas 
Athene, as he had seen her in Seriphos, seven long 
years before; and she stood and called him by name, 
and said, — 

“ Perseus, you have played the man, and see, you 
have your reward. Know now that the Gods are 
just, and help him who helps himself. Now give me 
here Herpe the sword, and the sandals, and the hat 


60 


PERSEUS. 


of darkness, that I may give them back to their own- 
ers; but the Gorgon’s head you shall keep awhile, for 
you will need it in your land of Greece. Then you 
shall lay it up in my temple at Seriphos, that I may 
wear it on my shield forever, a terror to the Titans 
and the monsters, and the foes of Gods and men. 
And as for this land, I have appeased the sea and the 
fire, and there shall be no more floods nor earth- 
quakes. But let the people build altars to Father 
Zeus and to me, and worship the Immortals, the 
Lords of heaven and earth.” 

And Perseus rose to give her the sword, and the 
cap, and the sandals: but he woke, and his dream 
vanished away. And yet it was not altogether 
a dream; for the goatskin with the head was 
in its place: but the sword, and the cap, and 
the sandals were gone, and Perseus never saw them 
more. 

Then a great awe fell on Perseus; and he went out 
in the morning to the people and told his dream, 
and bade them build altars to Zeus the Father of 
Gods and men, and to Athene who gives wisdom to 
heroes; and fear no more the earthquakes and the 
floods, but sow and build in peace. And they did so 
for a while and prospered: but after Perseus was 
gone they forgot Zeus and Athene and worshipped 
again Atergatis, the queen and the undying fish of 
the sacred lake where Deucalion’s deluge was swal- 


PERSEUS. 


61 


lowed up, and they burnt their children before the 
Fire King,' till Zeus was angry with that foolish peo- 
ple and brought a strange nation against them out of 
Egypt, who fought against them and wasted them 
utterly, and dwelt in their cities for many a hundred 
years. 


PART y. 


HOW PERSEUS CAME HOME AGAIN. 

And when a year was ended, Perseus hired Phoe- 
nicians from Tyre, and out down cedars, and built 
himself a noble galley; and painted its cheeks with 
vermilion, and pitched its sides with pitch; and in 
it he put Andromeda, and all her dowry of jewels, 
and rich shawls, and spices from the East ; and great 
was the weeping when they rowed away. But the 
remembrance of his brave deed was left behind; and 
Andromeda’s rock was shown at Jopa in Palestine, 
till more than a thousand years were past. 

So Perseus and the Phoenicians rowed to the west- 
ward, across the sea of Crete, till they came to the 
blue iEgean and the pleasant Isles of Hellas, and 
Seriphos, his ancient home. 

Then he left his galley on the beach, and went up 
as of old; and he embraced his mother, and Dictys, 
his good foster-father, and they wept over each other 
a long while, for it was seven years and more since 
they had met. 

Then Perseus went out, and up to the hall of Poly- 


PERSEUS. 


63 


dectes; and underneath the goatskin he bore the 
Gorgon’s head. 

And when he came into the hall, Poly dectes sat at 
the table-head, and all his nobles and landowners on 
either side, each according to his rank, feasting on 
the fish and the goat’s-flesh, and drinking the blood- 
red wine. The harpers harped, and the revellers 
shouted, and the wine-cups rang merrily as they 
passed from hand to hand, and great was the noise in 
the hall of Polydectes. 

Then Perseus stood upon the threshold, and called 
to the king by name. But none of the guests knew 
Perseus, for he was changed by his long journey. He 
had gone out a boy, and he was come home a hero; 
his eyes shone like an eagle’s, and his beard was like 
a lion’s beard, and he stood up like a wild bull in 
his pride. 

But Polydectes the wicked knew him, and hardened 
his heart still more; and scornfully he called, — 

“Ah, foundling! Have you found it more easy to 
promise than to fulfil?” 

“ Those whom the Gods help, fulfil their promises; 
and those who despise them, reap as they have sown. 
Behold the Gorgon’s head!” 

Then Perseus drew back the goatskin, and held 
aloft the Gorgon’s head. 

Pale grew Polydectes and his guests, as they looked 
upon that dreadful face. They tried to rise up from 


64 


PERSEUS. 


their seats: but from their seats they never rose, hut 
stiffened, each man where he sat, into a ring of cold 
grey stones. 

Then Perseus turned and left them, and went down 
to his galley in the bay ; and he gave the kingdom to 
good Dictys, and sailed away with his mother and his 
bride. 

And Polydectes and his guests sat still, with the 
wine-cups before them on the board ; till the rafters 
crumbled down above their heads, and the walls be- 
hind their backs, and the table crumbled down 
between them, and the grass sprung up about their 
feet: but Polydectes and his guests sit on the hill- 
side, a ring of gray stones, until this day. 

But Perseus rowed westward toward Argos, and 
landed, and went up to the town. And when he 
came, he found that Acrisius, his grandfather, had 
fled. For Proetus, his wicked brother, had made war 
against him afresh; and had come across the river 
from Tiryns, and conquered Argos, and Acrisius had 
fled to Larissa, in the country of the wild Pelasgi. 

Then Perseus called the Argives together, and told 
them who he was, and all the noble deeds which he 
had done. And all the nobles and the yeomen made 
him king, for they saw that he had a royal heart; and 
they fought with him against Argos, and took it, and 
killed Proetus, and made the Cyclopes serve them, 
and build them walls round Argos, like the walls 


PERSEUS. 


65 


which they had built at Tiryus: and there were great 
rejoicings in the vale of Argos, because they had got 
a king from Father Zeus. 

But Perseus’ heart yearned after his grandfather, 
and he said, “ Surely he is my flesh and blood ; and 
he will love me now that I am come home with hon- 
or: I will go and find him and bring him home, 
and we will reign together in peace.” 

So Perseus sailed away with his Phoenicians, round 
Hydrea and Sunium, past Marathon and the Attic 
shore, and through Euripus, and up the long Euboean 
sea, till he came to the town of Larissa, where the 
wild Pelasgi dwelt. 

And when he came there, all the people were in 
the fields, and there was feasting, and all kinds 
of games; for Teutamenes their king wished to 
honor Acrisius, because he was the king of a mighty 
land. 

So Perseus did not tell his name, but went up to 
the games unknown; for he said, “If I carry away 
the prize in the games, my grandfather’s heart will 
be softened toward me.” 

So he threw off his helmet, and his cuirass, and all 
his clothes, and stood among the youth of Larissa, 
while all wondered at him, and said, “Who is this 
young stranger, who stands like a wild bull in his 
pride? Surely he is one of the heroes, the sons of the 
Immortals, from Olympus.” 

5 


m 


PERSEUS. 


And when the games began, they wondered yet 
more; for Perseus was the best man of all, at run- 
ning, and leaping, and wrestling, and throwing the 
javelin; and he won four crowns, and took them, 
and then he said to himself, “ There is a fifth crown 
yet to be won; I will win that, and lay them all upon 
the knees of my grandfather.” 

And as he spoke, he saw where Acrisius sat, by the 
side of Teutamenes the king, with his white beard 
flowing down upon his knees, and his royal staff in 
his hand; and Perseus wept when he looked at him, 
for his heart yearned after his kin; and he said, 
“ Surely he is a kingly old man, yet he need not be 
ashamed of his grandson.” 

Then he took the quoits and hurled them five 
fathoms beyond all the rest; and the people shouted, 
“ Further yet, brave stranger ! There has never been 
such a hurler in this land.” 

Then Perseus put out all his strength and hurled 
But a gust of wind came from the sea, and carried 
the quoit aside, and far beyond all the rest ; and it 
fell on the foot of Acrisius, and he swooned away 
with the pain. 

Perseus shrieked, and ran up to him ; but when 
they lifted the old man up, he was dead ; for his life 
was slow and feeble. 

Then Perseus rent his clothes, and cast dust upon 
his head, and wept a long while for his grandfather. 


PERSEUS. 


67 


At last he rose, and called to all the people aloud, and 
said, — 

“ The Gods are true, and what they have ordained 
must be. I am Perseus, the grandson of this dead 
man, the far-famed slayer of the Gorgon.” 

Then he told them how the prophecy had declared 
that he should kill his grandfather, and all the story 
of his life. 

So they made a great mourning for Acrisius, and 
burnt him on a right rich pile; and Perseus went to 
the temple, and was purified from the guilt of the 
death, because he had done it unknowingly. 

Then he went home to Argos, and reigned there well 
with fair Andromeda; and they had four sons and 
three daughters, and died in a good old age. 

And when they died, the ancients say, Athene took 
them up into the sky, with Cepheus and Cassiopoeia. 
And there on starlight nights you may see them shin- 
ing still ; Cepheus with his kingly crown, and Cassi- 
opoeia in her ivory chair, plaiting her star-spangled 
tresses, and Perseus with the Gorgon’s head, and fair 
Andromeda beside him, spreading her long white 
arms across the heaven, as she stood when chained to 
the stone for the monster. All night long they shine, 
fora beacon to wandering sailors; but all day they 
feast with the Gods, on the still blue peaks of Olym- 
pus. 








































. 













































































THE ARGONAUTS 


PART I. 

HOW THE CENTAUR TRAINED THE HEROES ON 
PELION. 

I have told you of a hero who fought with wild 
beasts and with wild men ; but now I have a tale of 
heroes who sailed away into a distant land to win 
themselves renown forever, in the adventure of the 
Golden Fleece. 

Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly 
tell. It all happened long ago; so long that it has 
all grown dim like a dream which you dreamt last 
year. And why they went, I cannot tell; some say 
that it was to win gold. It may be so; but the no- 
blest deeds which have been done on earth have not 
been done for gold. It was not for the sake of gold 
that the Lord came down and died and the Apostles 
went out to preach the good news in all lands. The 
Spartans looked for no reward in money when they 
fought and died at Thermopylae; and Socrates the 


70 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


wise asked no pay from his countrymen, but lived 
poor and barefoot all his days, only caring to make 
men good. And there are heroes in our days also 
who do noble deeds, but not for gold. Our discov- 
erers did not go to make themselves rich, when they 
sailed out one after another into the dreary frozen 
seas; nor did the ladies, who went out last year, to 
drudge in the hospitals of the East, making them- 
selves poor, that they might be rich in noble works. 
And young men, too, whom you know, children, and 
some of them of your own kin, did they say to them- 
selves, “How much money shall I earn?” when they 
went out to the war, leaving wealth, and comfort, 
and a pleasant home, and all that money can give, 
to face hunger and thirst and wounds and death, that 
they might fight for their country and their Queen? 
No, children, there is a better thing on earth than 
wealth, a better thing than life itself; and that is, to 
have done something before you die, for which good 
men may honor you, and God your Father smile 
upon your work. 

Therefore we will believe — why should we not? — of 
these same Argonauts of old, that they too were noble 
men, who planned and did a noble deed; and that 
therefore their fame has lived, and been told in story 
and in song, mixed up, no doubt, with dreams and 
fables, and yet true and right at heart. So we will 
honor these old Argonauts, and listen to their story 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


71 


as it stands; and we will try to be like them, each of 
us in our place; for each of us has a Golden Fleece to 
seek, and a wild sea to sail over, ere we reach it, and 
dragons to fight ere it be ours. 

And what was that first Golden Fleece? I do not 
know, nor care. The old Hellenes said that it hung 
in Colchis, which we call the Circassian coast, nailed 
to a beech-tree in the war-God’s wood; and that it 
was the fleece of the wondrous ram who bore Phrixus 
and Helle across the Euxine sea. For Phrixus and 
Helle were the children of the cloud-nymph, and of 
Athamas the Minuan king. And when a famine 
came upon the land their cruel step-mother, Ino, 
wished to kill them, that her own children might 
reign, and said that they must be sacrificed on an 
altar, to turn away the anger of the gods. So the 
poor children were brought to the altar, and the priest 
stood ready with his knife, when out of the clouds 
came the Golden Ram, and took them on his back, 
and vanished. Then madness came upon that foolish 
king Athamas, and ruin upon Ino and her children. 
For Athamas killed one of them in his fury, and Ino 
fled from him with the other in her arms, and leaped 
from a cliff into the sea, and was changed into a dol- 
phin, such as you have seen, which wanders over the 
waves forever sighing, with its little one clasped to 
its breast. 


72 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


But the people drove out King Athamas, because he 
had killed his child ; and he roamed about in his mis- 
ery, till he came to the Oracle in Delphi. And the 
Oracle told him that he must wander for his sin till 
the wild beasts should feast him as their guest. So 
he went on in hunger and sorrow for many a weary 
day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves were 
tearing a sheep ; but when they saw Athamas they fled, 
and left the sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then 
he knew that the oracle was fulfilled at last. So he 
wandered no more; but settled, and built a town, 
and became a king again. 

But the ram carried the two children far away over 
land and sea, till he came to the Thracian Cher- 
sonese, and there Helle fell into the sea. So those 
narrow straits are called “ Hellespont,” after her; and 
they bear that name until this day. 

Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the northeast 
across the sea which we call the Black Sea now ; but 
the Hellens called it Euxine. And at last, they say, 
he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Circassian coast ; 
and there Phrixus married Chalchiope, the daughter 
of Aietes the king ; and offered the ram in sacrifice ; 
and Aietes nailed the ram’s fleece to a beech, in the 
grove of Ares the war-God. 

And after a while Phrixus died, and was buried, but 
his spirit had no rest ; for he was buried far from his 
native land, and the pleasant hills of Hellas. So he 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


73 


came in dreams to the heroes of the Minuai, and 
called sadly by their beds, — “ Come and set my spirit 
free, that I may go home to“my fathers and to my 
kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land.” 

And they asked — “How shall we set your spirit 
free?” * 

“ You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring 
home the golden fleece; and then my spirit will come 
back with it, and I shall sleep with my fathers and 
have rest.” 

He came thus, and called to them often ; but when 
they woke they looked at each other, and said — “ Who 
dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the golden fleece?” 

And in all the country none was brave enough to 
try it ; for the man and the time were not come. 

Phrixus had a cousin called iEson, who was king 
in Iolcos by the sea. There he ruled over the rich 
Minuan heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled in Boeotia; 
and like Athamas, he was an unhappy man. For he 
had a step-brother named Pelias, of whom some said 
that he was a nymph’s son, and there were dark and 
sad tales about his birth. When he was a babe he 
was cast out on the mountains, and a wild mare came 
by and kicked him. But a shepherd passing found 
the baby, with its face all blackened by the blow; 
and took him home, and called him Pelias, because 
his face was bruised and black. And he grew up fierce 
and lawless, and did many a fearful deed ; and at last 


74 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


he drove out iEson his step-brother, and then his own 
brother Neleus, and took the kingdom to himself, and 
ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, in Iolcos by the 
sea. 

And iEson, when he was driven out, went sadly 
away out of the town, leading his little son by the 
hand ; and he said to himself, “ I must hide the child 
in the mountains; or Pelias will surely kill him, be- 
cause he is the heir. ” 

So he went up from the sea across the valley, through 
the vineyards and the olive groves, and across the tor- 
rent of Anauros, toward Pelion the ancient moun- 
tain, whose brows are white with snow. 

He went up and up into the mountain over the 
marsh, and crag, and down, till the boy was tired and 
foot-sore, and iEson had to bear him in his arms, till 
he came to the mouth of a lonely cave, at the foot of 
a mighty cliff. 

Above the cliff the snow wreaths hung, dripping 
and cracking in the sun: but at its foot around the 
cave’s mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs, as if in 
a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself. There 
they grew gayly in the sunshine and the spray of the 
torrent from above; while from the cave came the 
sound of music, and a man’s voice singing to the 
harp. 

Then iEson put down the lad, and whispered, — 

“ Pear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


75 


find, lay yonr hands upon his knees, and say, ‘In the 
name of Zeus, the father of gods and men, I am your 
guest from this day forth . 5 ” 

Then the lad went in without trembling, for he too 
was a hero’s son: but when he was within, he stopped 
in wonder, to listen to that magic song. 

And there he saw the singer, lying upon bearskins 
and fragrant boughs; Cheiron the ancient centaur, 
the wisest of all things beneath the sky. Down to 
the waist he was a man; but below he was a noble 
horse; his white hair rolled down over his broad 
shoulders, and his white beard over his broad brown 
chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his fore- 
head like a mountain- wall. 

And in his hands he held a narp of gold, and struck 
it with a golden key; and as he struck, he sang till 
his eyes glittered, and filled all the cave with light. 

And he sang of the birth of Time, and of the heavens, 
and the dancing stars; and of the ocean, and the 
ether, and the fire, and the shaping of the wondrous 
earth. And he sang of the treasures of the hills, and 
the hidden jewels of the mine, and the veins of fire 
and metal, and the virtues of all healing herbs, and 
of the speech of birds, and of the prophecy, and of 
hidden things to come. 

Then he sang of health, and strength, and man- 
hood, and a valiant heart; and of music, and hunting, 
and wrestling, and all the games which heroes love ; 


76 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


and of travel, and wars, and sieges, and a noble death 
in fight; and then he. sang of peace and plenty, and 
of equal justice in the land : and as he sang, the boy 
listened wide-eyed, and forgot his errand in the song. 

And at the last old Cheiron was silent, and called 
the lad with a soft voice. 

And the lad ran trembling to him, and would have 
laid his hands upon his knees: but Cheiron smiled 
and said, “ Call hither your father JEson, for I know 
you, and all that has befallen, and saw you both afar 
in the valley, even before you left the town.” 

Then^Eson came in sadly, and Cheiron asked him, 
“ Why came you not yourself to me, ^Eson the 
iEolid?” 

And iEson said, — 

“ I thought, Cheiron will pity the lad if he sees him 
come alone; and I wished to try whether he was fear- 
less and dare venture like a hero’s son. But now I en- 
treat you by Father Zeus, let the boy be your guest 
till better times, and train him among the sons of the 
heroes, that he may avenge his father’s house.” 

Then Cheiron smiled, and drew the lad to him, and 
laid his hand upon his golden locks, and said, “ Are 
you afraid of my horse’s hoofs, fair boy, or will you 
be my pupil from this day?” 

“ I would gladly have horse’s hoofs like you, if I 
could sing such songs as yours.” 

And Cheiron laughed and said, “ Sit here by me till 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


77 


sundown, when your playfellows will come home, and 
you shall learn like them to be a king, worthy to rule 
over gallant men.” 

Then he turned to ^Eson and said, “ Go back in 
peace, and bend before the storm like a prudent man. 
This boy shall not cross the Anauros again till he 
has become a glory to you and to the house of 
H^olus.” 

And HSson wept over his son and went away ; but 
the boy did not weep, so full was his fancy of that 
strange cave, and the Centaur, and his song, and the 
playfellows whom he was to see. 

Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and 
taught him how to play it, till the sun sank low be- 
hind the cliff, and a shout was heard outside. 

And then in came the sons of the heroes, iEneas, 
and Heracles, and Peleus, and many another mighty 
name. 

And great Cheiron leapt up joyfully, and his hoofs 
made the cave resound, as they shouted, “ Come out, 
Father Cheiron ; come out and see our game.” And 
one cried, “I have killed two deer,” and another, 
“ I took a wild cat among the crags” ; and Heracles 
dragged a wild goat after him by its horns, for he was 
as huge as a mountain crag; and Cseneus carried a 
bear-cub under each arm, and laughed when they 
scratched and bit; for neither tooth nor steel could 
wound him. 


78 


THE ARGONAUTS . 


And Cheiron praised them all, each according to 
his deserts. 

Only one walked apart and silent, Asclepins, the 
too-wise child, with his bosom full of herbs and flow- 
ers, and round his wrist a spotted snake; he came 
with downcast eyes to Cheiron, and whispered how he 
had watched the snake cast his old skin and grow 
young again before his eyes, and how he had gone 
down into a village in the vale and cured a dying 
man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat. 

And Cheiron smiled and said, “To each Athene 
and Apollo give some gift, and each is worthy in his 
place; but to this child they have given an honor 
beyond all honors, to cure while others kill.” 

Then the lads brought in wood and split it, and 
lighted a blazing fire; and others skinned the deer 
and quartered them, and set them to roast before the 
fire; and while the venison was cooking they bathed 
in the snow torrent, and washed away the dust and 
sweat. 

And then all ate till they could eat no more (for 
they had tasted nothing since the dawn) , and drank 
of the clear spring water, for wine is not fit for grow- 
ing lads. And when the remnants were put away, 
they all lay down upon the skins and leaves about the 
fire, and each took the lyre in turn, and sang and 
played with all his heart. 

And after a while they all went out to a plot of grass 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


79 


at the cave’s mouth, and there they boxed, and ran, 
and wrestled, and laughed till the stones fell from the 
cliffs. 

Then Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads joined 
hands; and as he played, they danced to his meas- 
ure, in and out, and round and round. 

There they danced hand in hand, till the night fell 
over land and sea, while the black glen shone with 
their broad white limbs, and the gleam of their golden 
hair. 

And the lad danced with them, delighted, and then 
slept a wholesome sleep, upon fragrant leaves of bay, 
and myrtle, and marjoram, and flowers of thyme; 
and rose at the dawn, and bathed in the torrent, and 
became a schoolfellow to the heroes’ sons, and forgot 
Iolcos, and his father, and all his former life. But 
he grew strong, and brave, and cunning, upon the 
pleasant downs of Pelion, in the keen hungry moun- 
tain air. And he learnt to wrestle, and to box, and 
to hunt, and to play upon the harp; and next he 
learnt to ride, for old Cheiron used to mount him on 
his back ; and he learnt the virtues of all herbs, and 
how to cure all wounds; and Cheiron called him Jason 
the healer, and that is his name until this day. 


PART II. 


HOW JASON LOST HIS SANDAL IN ANAUROS. 

And ten years came and went, and Jason was grown 
to be a mighty man. Some of his fellows were gone, 
and some were growing up by his side. Aselepius 
was gone into Peloponnese, to work his wondrous cures 
on men ; and some say he used to raise the dead to 
life. And Heracles was gone to Thebes, to fulfil those 
famous labours which have become a proverb among 
men. And Peleus had married a sea-nymph, and his 
wedding is famous to this day. And HSneas was gone 
home to Troy, and many a noble tale you will read of 
him, and of all the other gallant heroes, the scholars 
of Cheiron the just. And it happened on a day that 
Jason stood on the mountain, and looked north and 
south and east and west; and Cheiron stood by him 
and watched him, for he knew that the time was come. 

And Jason looked and saw the plains of Thessaly, 
where the Lapithai breed their horses ; and the lake 
of Boib6, and the stream which runs northward to 
Peneus and Tempe ; and he looked north, and saw the 
mountain wall which guards the Magnesian shore; 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


81 


Olympus, the seat of the Immortals, and Ossa and 
Pelion, where he stood. Then he looked east and 
saw the bright blue sea, which stretched away forever 
toward the dawn. Then he looked south and saw a 
pleasant land, with white-walled towns and farms, 
nestling along the shore of a land-locked bay, while 
the smoke rose blue among the trees; and he knew 
it for the bay of Pagasai, and the rich lowlands of 
Haemonia, and Iolcos by the sea. 

Then he sighed, and asked : “ Is it true what the 
heroes tell me, that I am heir of that fair land?” 

“ And what good would it be to you, Jason, if you 
were heir of that fair land?” 

“ I would take it and keep it.” 

“ A strong man has taken it and kept it long. Are 
you stronger than Pelias the terrible?” 

“ I can try my strength with his,” said Jason. But 
Cheiron sighed, and said, — 

“ You have many a danger to go through before you 
rule in Iolcos by the sea; many a danger, and many 
a woe ; and strange troubles in strange lands, such as 
man never saw before.” 

“The happier I,” said Jason, “to see what man 
never saw before.” 

And Cheiron sighed again, and said: “The eaglet 
must leave the nest when it is fledged. Will you go 
to Iolcos by the sea? Then promise me two things 
before you go.” 

6 


82 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


Jason promised, and Cheiron answered: “Speak 
harshly to no soul whom you may meet, and stand by 
the word which you shall speak.” 

Jason wondered why Cheiron asked this of him; 
but he knew that the Centaur was a prophet, and saw 
things before they came. So he promised, and leapt 
down the mountain, to take his fortune like a man. 

He went down through the arbutus thickets, and 
across the downs of thyme, till he came to the vine- 
yard walls, and the pomegranates and the olives in the 
glen; and among the olives roared Anauros, all foam- 
ing with a summer flood. 

And on the bank of Anauros sat a woman, all 
wrinkled, gray, and old; her head shook palsied on 
her breast, and her hands shook palsied on her knees; 
and when she saw Jason she spoke, whining: “Who 
will carry me across the flood?” 

Jason was bold and hasty, and was just going to 
leap into the flood ; and yet he thought twice before 
he leapt, so loud roared the torrent down, all brown 
from the mountain rains, and silver-veined with melt- 
ing snow; while underneath he could hear the boul- 
ders rumbling like the tramp of horsemen or the roll 
of wheels, as they ground along the narrow channel, 
and shook the rocks on which he stood. 

But the old woman whined all the more : “ I am 
weak and old, fair youth. For Hera’s sake, carry me 
over the torrent.” 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


83 


And Jason was going to answer her scornfully, when 
Cheiron’s words came to his mind. 

So he said : “ For Hera’s sake, the Queen of the Im- 
mortals on Olympus, I will carry you over the torrent, 
unless we both are drowned midway.” 

Then the old dame leapt upon his back, as nimbly 
as a goat; and Jason staggered in, wondering; and 
the first step was up to his knees. 

The first step was up to his knees, and the second 
step was up to his waist; and the stones rolled about 
his feet, and his feet slipped about the stones; so he 
went on staggering and panting, while the old woman 
cried from off his back : 

“Fool, you have wet my mantle! Do you make 
game of poor old souls like me?” 

Jason had half a mind to drop her, and let her get 
through the torrent by herself; but Cheiron’s words 
were in his mind, and he said only: “Patience, 
mother; the best horse may stumble some day.” 

At last he staggered to the shore, and set her down 
upon the bank ; and a strong man he needed to have 
been, or that wild water he never would have crossed. 

He lay panting a while upon the bank, and then 
leapt up to go upon his journey; but he cast one look 
at the old woman, for he thought, “ She should thank 
me once at least.” 

And as he looked, she grew fairer than all women, 
and taller than all men on earth ; and her garments 


84 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


shone like the summer sea, and her jewels like the 
stars of heaven ; and over her forehead was a veil, 
woven of the golden clouds of sunset; and through 
the veil she looked down on him with great soft 
heifer’s eyes; with great eyes, mild and awful, which 
filled all the glen with light. 

And Jason fell upon his knees, and hid his face be- 
tween his hands. 

And she spoke — “ I am the Queen of Olympus, Hera, 
the wife of Zeus. As thou hast done to me, so will I 
do to thee. Call on me in the hour of need, and try 
if the Immortals can forget.” 

And when Jason looked up, she rose from off the 
earth, like a pillar of tall white cloud, and floated 
away across the mountain peaks, towards Olympus the 
holy hill. 

Then a great fear fell on Jason; but after a while 
he grew light of heart; and he blessed old Cheiron, 
and said — “Surely the Centaur is a prophet, and 
guessed what would come to pass, when he bade me 
speak harshly to no soul whom I might meet.” 

Then he went down toward Iolcos, and as he walked 
he found that he had lost one of his sandals in the 
flood. 

And as he went through the streets, the people 
came out to look at him, so tall and fair was he; but 
some of the elders whispered together, and at last 
one of them stopped Jason, and called to him, — “ Fair 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


85 


lad, who are yon, and whence come you; and what is 
your errand in the town?” 

“ My name, good father, is Jason, and I come from 
Pelion up above; and my errand is to Pelias your 
king; tell me, then, where his palace is.” 

But the old man started, and grew pale, and said, 
“ Do you not know the oracle, my son, that you go so 
boldly through the town, with but one sandal on?” 

“ I am a stranger here, and know of no oracle; but 
what of my one sandal? I lost the other in Anauros, 
while I was struggling with the flood.” 

Then the old man looked back to his companions; 
and one sighed and another smiled ; at last he said — 
“ I will tell you, lest you rush upon your ruin una- 
wares. The oracle in Delphi has said that a man 
wearing one sandal should take the kingdom from 
Pelias, and keep it for himself. Therefore beware 
how you go up to his palace, for he is the fiercest and 
most cunning of all kings.” 

Then Jason laughed a great laugh, like a warhorse 
in his pride — “Good news, good father, both for 
you and me. For that very end I came into the 
town.” 

Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias, 
while all the people wondered at his bearing. 

And he stood in the doorway and cried, “ Come out, 
come out, Pelias the valiant, and fight for your king- 
dom like a man.” 


86 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


Pelias came out wondering, and “ Who are you, 
bold youth?” he cried. 

“ I am Jason, the son of iEson, the heir of all this 
land.” 

Then Pelias lifted up his hands and eyes, and wept, 
or seemed to weep; and blessed the heavens which 
had brought his nephew to him, never to leave him 
more. “ For,” said he, “ I have but three daughters, 
and no son to be my heir. You shall be my heir 
then, and rule the kingdom after me, and marry 
whichsoever of my daughters you shall choose ; though 
a sad kingdom you will find it, and whosoever rules 
it a miserable man. But come in, come in, and 
feast.” 

So he drew Jason in, whether he would or not, and 
spoke to him so lovingly and feasted him so well 
that Jason’s anger passed; and after supper his three 
cousins came into the hall, and Jason thought that 
he should like well enough to have one of them for 
his wife. 

But at last he said to Pelias, “ Why do you look so 
sad, my uncle? And what did you mean just now, 
when you said that this was a doleful kingdom, and 
its ruler a miserable man?” 

Then Pelias sighed heavily again and again and 
again, like a man who had to tell some dreadful story 
and was afraid to begin ; but at last — 

“ For seven long years and more have I never known 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


87 


a quiet night; and no more will he who comes after 
me, till the golden fleece be brought home.” 

Then he told Jason the story of Phrixus and of the 
golden fleece; and told him, too, which was a lie, 
that Phrixus’ spirit tormented him, calling to him 
day and night. And his daughters came and told 
the same tale (for their father had taught them their 
parts), and wept, and said, “Oh, who will bring 
home the golden fleece that our uncle’s spirit may- 
have rest, and that we may have rest also, whom he 
never lets sleep in peace?” 

Jason sat a while, sad and silent; for he had often 
heard of that golden fleece; but he looked on it as a 
thing hopeless and impossible for any mortal man to 
win it. 

But when Pelias saw him silent, he began to talk 
of other things, and courted Jason more and more, 
speaking to him as if he was certain to be his heir, 
and asking his advice about the kingdom, till Jason, 
who was young and simple, could not help saying to 
himself, “ Surely he is not the dark man whom peo- 
ple call him. Yet why did he drive my father out? 
And he asked Pelias boldly, “ Men say that you are 
terrible, and a man of blood; but I find you a kind 
and hospitable man ; and as you are to me, so will I 
be to you. Yet why did you drive my father out?” 

Pelias smiled and sighed : “ Men have slandered me 
in that, as in all things. Your father was growing 


88 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


old and weary, and he gave the kingdom up to me of 
his own will. You shall see him to-morrow, and ask 
him; and he will tell you the same.” 

Jason’s heart leapt in him, when he heard that he 
was to see his father; and he believed all that Pelias 
said, forgetting that his father might not dare to tell 
the truth. 

“One thing more there is,” said Pelias, “on which 
I need your advice ; for though you are young, I see 
in you a wisdom beyond your years. There is one 
neighbour of mine, whom I dread more than all men 
on earth. I am stronger than he now, and can com- 
mand him : but I know that if he stay among us, he 
will work my ruin in the end. Can you give me a 
plan, Jason, by which 1 k can rid myself of that 
man?” 

After a while, Jason answered, half - laughing, 
“ Wera I you, I would send him to fetch that same 
golden fleece ; for if he once set forth after it you 
would never be troubled with him more.” 

And at that a bitter smile came across Pelias’ lips, 
and a flash of wicked joy into his eyes; and Jason 
saw it, and started; and over his mind came the 
warning of the old man, and his own one sandal, and 
the oracle, and he saw that he was taken in a 
trap. 

But Pelias only answered gently, “ My son, he shall 
be sent forthwith.” 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


89 


“You mean me?” cried Jason, starting up, “be- 
cause I came here with one sandal?” And he lifted 
his fist angrily, while Pelias stood up to him like a 
wolf at bay ; and whether of the two was the stronger 
and the fiercer, it would be hard to tell. 

But after a moment Pelias spoke gently — 

“Why then so rash, my son? You, and not I, 
have said what is said ; why blame me for what I have 
not done? Had you bid me love the man of whom 
I spoke, and make him my son-in-law and heir, I 
would have obeyed you; and what if I obey you 
now, and send the man to win himself immortal 
fame? I have not harmed you, or him. One 
thing at least I know, that he will go, and that 
gladly: for he has a hero’s heart within him; loving 
glory, and scorning to break the word which he has 
given.” 

Jason saw that he was entrapped, but his second 
promise to Cheiron came into his mind, and he 
thought, “ What if the Centaur were a prophet in 
that also, and meant that I should win the fleece!” 
Then he cried aloud, — 

“You have well spoken, cunning uncle of mine! 
I love glory, and I dare keep to my word. I will go 
and fetch this golden fleece. Promise me but this 
in return, and keep your word as I keep mine. Treat 
my father lovingly while I am gone, for the sake of 
the all-seeing Zeus; and give me up the kingdom for 


90 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


my own on the day that I bring back the golden 
fleece.” 

Then Pelias looked at him and almost loved 
him, in the midst of all his hate; and said, “I 
promise, and I will perform. It will be no shame 
to give up my kingdom to the man who wins that 
fleece.” 

Then they swore a great oath between them ; and 
afterwards both went in, and lay down to sleep. 

But Jason could not sleep, for thinking of his 
mighty oath, and how he was to fulfil it, all alone, 
and without wealth or friends. So he tossed a long 
time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of 
that; and sometimes Phrixus seemed to call him, in 
a thin voice, faint and low, as if it came far across 
the sea — “ Let me come home to my fathers and have 
rest.” And sometimes he seemed to see the eyes of 
Hera, and to hear her words again, — “ Call on me in 
the hour of need, and see if the Immortals can for- 
get.” 

And on the morrow he went to Pelias and said, 
“Give me a victim, that I may sacrifice to Hera.” 
So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and as he 
stood by the altar, Hera sent a thought into his mind ; 
and he went back to Pelias, and said, — 

“ If you are indeed in earnest, give me two heralds, 
that they may go round to all the princes of the 
Minuai, who were pupils of the Centaur with me, 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


91 


that we may fit out a ship together and take what 
shall befall.” 

At that Pelas praised his wisdom, and hastened to 
send the heralds out; for he said in his heart, “ Let 
all the princes go with him, and like him, never re- 
turn ; for so I shall be lord of all the Minuai, and the 
greatest king in Hellas.” 


PART III. 

HOW THEY BUILT THE SHIP ARGO IN IOLCOS. 

So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes 
of the Minuai, “ Who dare come to the adventure of 
the golden fleece?" 

And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and 
they came from all their valleys to the yellow sands 
of Pagasai. And first came Heracles the mighty, 
with his lion’s skin and club, and behind him Hylas 
his young squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; 
and Tiphys, the skilful steersman; and Butes, the 
fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces the 
twins, the sons of the magic swan; and Caineus, 
the strongest of mortals, whom the Centaurs tried in 
vain to kill, and overwhelmed him with trunks 
of pine-trees, but even so he would not die; and 
thither came Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of 
the north wind; and Peleus, the father of Achilles, 
whose bride was silver-footed Thetis, the goddess of 
the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the 
fathers of the two Aiantes, who fought upon the plains 
of Troy ; and Mopsus, the wise soothsayer, who knew 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


93 


the speech of birds; and Idraon, to whom Phoebus 
gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come; and 
Ancaios, who could read the stars, and knew all the 
circles of the heavens; and Argus, the famed ship- 
builder, and many a hero more, in helmets of brass 
and gold with tall dyed horsehair crests, and em- 
broidered shirts of linen beneath their coats of mail, 
and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees in 
fight; with each man his shield upon his shoulder, 
of many a fold of tough bull’s hide, and his sword of 
tempered bronze in his silver-studded belt, and in 
his right hand a pair of lances, of the heavy white 
ash -staves. 

So they came to Iolcos, and all the city came out 
to meet them, and were never tired with looking at 
their height, and their beauty, and their gallant bear- 
ing, and the glitter of their inlaid arms. And some 
said, “Never was such a gathering of the heroes since 
the Hellens conquered the land.” But the women 
sighed over them and whispered, “Alas! they are 
all going to their death.” 

Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped 
them with the axe, and Argus taught them to build 
a galley, the first long ship which ever sailed the seas. 
They pierced her for fifty oars, an oar for each hero 
of the crew, and pitched her with coal-black pitch, 
and painted her bows with vermilion; and they 
named her Argo, after Argus, and worked at her all 


94 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


day long. And at night Pelias feasted them like a 
king, and they slept in his palace-porch. 

But Jason went away to the northward, and into 
the land of Thrace, till he found Orpheus, the prince 
of minstrels, where he dwelt in his cave under Rho- 
dope, among the savage Oicon tribes. And he asked 
him: “Will you leave your mountains, Orpheus, 
my fellow-scholar in old times, and cross Strymon 
once more with me, to sail with the heroes of the 
Minuai, and bring home the golden fleece, and charm 
for us all men and all monsters with your magic harp 
and song?” 

Then Orpheus sighed — “ Have I not had enough 
of toil and of weary wandering far and wide, since I 
lived in Cheiron’s cave, above Iolcos by the sea? In 
vain is the skill and the voice which my goddess 
mother gave me ; in vain have I sung and laboured ; 
in vain I went down to the dead, and charmed all the 
kings of Hades, to win back Eurydice my bride. For 
I won her, my beloved, and lost her again the same 
day, and wandered away in my madness, even to 
Egypt and the Libyan sands, and the isles of all the 
seas, driven on by the terrible gadfly, while I charmed 
in vain the hearts of men, and the savage forest beasts, 
and the trees, and the lifeless stones, with my magic 
harp and song, giving rest, but finding none. But at 
last Calliope, my mother, delivered me, and brought 
me home in peace; and I dwell here in the cave alone, 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


95 


among the savage Cicon tribes, softening their wild 
hearts with music and the gentle laws of Zeus. And 
now I must go out again, to the ends of all the earth, 
far away into the misty darkness, to the last wave of 
the Eastern Sea. But what is doomed must be, and 
a friend’s demand obeyed ; for prayers are the daugh- 
ters of Zeus, and who honors them honors him.” 

Then Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp, 
and went over Strymon. And he led Jason to the 
southwest, up the banks of Haliaemon and over the 
spurs of Pindus, to Dodona the town of Zeus, where 
it stood by the side of the sacred lake, and the foun- 
tain which breathed out fire, in the darkness of the 
ancient oak wood, beneath the mountain of the hun- 
dred springs. And he led him to the holy oak, where 
the black dove settled in old times, and was changed 
into the priestess of Zeus, and gave oracles to all na- 
tions round. And he bade him cut down a bough, 
and sacrifice to Hera and to Zeus; and they took the 
bough and came to Iolcos, and nailed it to the beak- 
head of the ship. 

And at last the ship was finished, and they tried to 
launch her down the beach; but she was too heavy 
for them to move her, and her keel sank deep in the 
sand. Then all the heroes looked at each other blush- 
ing; but Jason spoke, and said, “ Let us ask the magic 
bough; perhaps it can help us in our need.” 

Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason heard 


96 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


the words it said, and bade Orpheus play upon the 
harp, while the heroes waited round, holding the 
pine-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea. 

Then Orpheus took his harp, and began his magic 
song: “ How sweet it is to ride upon the surges, and 
to leap from wave to wave, while the wind sings cheer- 
ful in the cordage, and the oars flash fast among the 
foam ! How sweet it is to roam across the ocean, and 
see new towns and wondrous lands, and to come home 
laden with treasure, and to win undying fame!” 

And the good ship Argo heard him, and longed to 
be away and out at sea; till she stirred in every tim- 
ber, and heaved from stem to stern, and leapt up from 
the sand upon the rollers, and plunged onward like 
a gallant horse; and the heroes fed her path with 
pine-trunks, till she rushed into the whispering sea. 

Then they stored her well with food and water, and 
pulled the ladder up on board, and settled themselves 
each man to his oar, and kept time to Orpheus’ harp; 
and away across the bay they rowed southward, while 
the people lined the cliffs ; and the women wept while 
the men shouted at the starting of the gallant crew. 


PART IV. 

HOW THE ARGONAUTS SAILED TO COLCHIS. 

And what happened next, my children, whether it 
be true or not, stands written in ancient songs, which 
you shall read for yourselves some day. And grand 
old songs they are, written in grand old rolling verse; 
and they call them the Songs of Orpheus, or the 
Orphics, to this day. And they tell how the heroes 
came to Aphetai, across the bay, and waited for the 
southwest wind, and chose themselves a captain from 
their crew : and how all called for Heracles, because 
he was the strongest and most huge; but Heracles 
refused, and called for Jason, because he was the 
wisest of them all. So Jason was chosen captain: 
and Orpheus heaped a pile of wood, and slew a bull, 
and offered it to Hera, and called all the heroes to 
stand round, each man’s head crowned with olive, 
and to strike their swords into the bull. Then he 
filled a golden goblet with the bull’s blood, and with 
wheaten flour, and honey, and wine, and the bitter 
salt sea-water, and bade the heroes taste. So each 
tasted the goblet, and passed it round, and vowed an 
7 


98 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


awful vow: and they vowed before the sun, and the 
night, and the blue-haired sea who shakes the land, 
to stand by Jason faithfully, in the adventure of the 
golden fleece; and whosoever shrank back, or dis- 
obeyed, or turned traitor to his vow, then justice 
should witness against him, and the Erinnues who 
track guilty men. 

Then Jason lighted the pile, and burnt the carcase 
of the bull; and they went to their ship and sailed 
eastward, like men who have a work to do; and the 
place from which they went was called Aphetai, the 
sailing-place, from that day forth. Three thousand 
years and more they sailed away, into the unknown 
Eastern seas ; and great nations have come and gone 
since then, and many a storm has swept the earth; 
and many a mighty armament, to which Argo would 
be but one small boat, English and French, Turkish 
and Russian, have sailed those waters since; yet the 
fame of that small Argo lives forever, and her name 
is become a proverb among men. 

So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the 
Cape of Sepius on their left, and turned to the north- 
ward toward Pelion, up the long Magnesian shore. 
On their right hand was the open sea, and on their 
left old Pelion rose, while the clouds crawled round 
his dark pine-forests, and his caps of summer snow. 
And their hearts yearned for the dear old mountain, 
as they thought of pleasant days gone by, and of the 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


99 


sports of their boyhood, and their hunting, and their 
schooling in the cave beneath the cliff. And at last 
Peleus spoke — “ Let us land here, friends, and climb 
the dear old hill once more. We are going on a fear- 
ful journey: who knows if we shall see Pelion again? 
Let us go up to Cheiron our master, and ask his bless- 
ing ere we start. And I have a boy, too, with him, 
whom he trains as he trained me once, the son whom 
Thetis brought me, the silver-footed lady of the sea, 
whom I caught in the cave, and tamed her, though she 
changed her shape seven times. For she changed, 
as I held her, into water, and to vapour, and to 
burning flame, and to a rock, and to a black-maned 
lion, and to a tall and stately tree. But I held 
her and held her ever, till she took her own shape 
again, and led her to my father’s house, and won 
her for my bride. And all the rulers of Olympus 
came to our wedding, and the heavens and the earth 
rejoiced together, when an immortal wedded mor- 
tal man. And now let me see my son; for it is 
not often I shall see him upon earth: famous he 
will be, but short-lived, and die in the flower of 
youth.” 

So Tiphys, the helmsman, steered them to the 
shore under the crags of Pelion ; and they went up 
through the dark pine-forests toward the Centaur’s 
cave. 

And they came into the misty hall, beneath the 


100 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


snow-crowned crag, and saw the great Centanr lying 
with his huge limbs spread upon the rock; and beside 
him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could 
wound, and played upon his harp right sweetly, while 
Cheiron watched and smiled. 

Then Cheiron leapt up and welcomed them, and 
kissed them every one, and set a feast before them, 
of swine’s flesh, and vension, and good wine; and 
young Achilles served them, and carried the golden 
goblet round. And after supper all the heroes 
clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus to sing; 
but he refused, and said, “ How can I, who am the 
younger, sing before our ancient host?” So they 
called on Cheiron to sing, and Achilles brought him 
his harp; and he began a wondrous song; a famous 
story of old time, of the fight between Centaurs and 
the Lapithai, which you may still see carved in 
stone.* He sang how his brothers came to ruin by 
their folly, when they were mad with wine; and how 
they and the heroes fought, with fists, and teeth, and 
the goblets from which they drank; and how they 
tore up the pine-trees in their fury, and hurled great 
crags of stone, while the mountains thundered with 
the battle, and the land was wasted far and wide ; till 
the Lapithai drove them from their home in the rich 
Thessalian plains to the lonely glens of Pindus, leav- 
ing Cheiron all alone. And the heroes praised his 
* In the Elgin Marbles. 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


101 


song right heartily; for some of them had helped in 
that great fight. 

Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos, 
and the making of the wondrous World, and how all 
things sprang from Love, who could not live alone in 
the Abyss. And as he sang, his voice rose from the 
cave, above the crags, and through the tree-tops, and 
the glens of oak and pine. And the trees bowed their 
heads when they heard it, and the grey rocks cracked 
and rang, and the forest beasts crept near to listen, and 
the birds forsook their nests and hovered round. And 
old Cheiron clapt his hands together, and beat his 
hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that magic song. 

Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, 
and they went down to the ship ; and Cheiron came 
down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by 
one, and blest them, and promised to them great re- 
nown. And the heroes wept when they left him, till 
their great hearts could weep no more; for he was 
kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts 
and men. Then he went up to a cliff, and prayed 
for them, that they might come home safe and well ; 
while the heroes rowed away, and watched him stand- 
ing on his cliff above the sea, with his great hands 
raised toward heaven, and his white locks waving in 
the wind; and they strained their eyes to watch him 
to the last, for they felt that they should look on him 
no more. 


102 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, 
past Olympus, the seat of the immortals, and past the 
wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace, the sacred 
isle ; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, 
and through the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on 
into the Propontis, which we call Marmora now. And 
there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over the 
Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of H^neas, 
of whom you will hear many a tale some day. For 
Homer tells us how he fought at Troy; and Virgil 
how he sailed away and founded Rome ; and men be- 
lieved until late years that from him sprang our old 
British kings. Now Cyzicus, the songs say, wel- 
comed the heroes; for his father had been one of 
Cheiron’s scholars; so he welcomed them, and feasted 
them, and stored their ship with corn and wine, and 
cloaks and rugs, the songs say, and shirts, of which 
no doubt they stood in need. 

But at night, while they lay sleeping, came down 
on them terrible men, who lived with the bears in the 
mountains, like Titans or giants in shape; for each 
of them had six arms, and they fought with young 
firs and pines. But Heracles killed them all before 
morn with his deadly poisoned arrows; but among 
them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the kindly 
prince. 

Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and 
Tiphys bade them cast off the hawsers, and go to sea. 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


103 


But as he spoke a whirlwind came, and spun the 
Argo round, and twisted the hawsers together, so 
that no man could loose them. Then Tiphys dropped 
the rudder from his hand, and cried, “This comes 
from the Gods above.” But Jason went forward, 
and asked counsel of the magic bough. 

Then the magic bough spoke and answered, — 
“ This is because you have slain Cyzicus your friend. 
You must appease his soul, or you will never leave 
this shore.” 

Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what he 
had heard. And they leapt on shore, and searched 
till dawn; and at dawn they found the body, all 
rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses of those 
monstrous beasts. And they wept over their kind 
host, and laid him on a fair bed, and heaped a huge 
mound over him, and offered black sheep at his tomb, 
and Orpheus sang a magic song to him, that his 
spirit might have rest. And then they held games at 
the tomb, after the custom of those times, and Jason 
gave prizes to each winner. To Ancaeus he gave a 
golden cup, for he wrestled best of all; and to Hera- 
cles a silver one, for he was the strongest of all ; and 
to Castor, who rode best, a golden crest ; and Poly- 
deuces the boxer had a rich carpet, and to Orpheus 
for his song, a sandal with golden wings. But Jason 
himself was the best of all the archers, and the Min- 
uai crowned him with an olive crown; and so, the 


104 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


songs say, the soul of good Cyzicus was appeased, and 
the heroes went on their way in peace. 

But when Cyzicus’ wife heard that he was dead, 
she died likewise of grief; and her tears became a 
fountain of clear water, which flows the whole year 
round. 

Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the My- 
sian shore, and past the mouth of Rhindacus, till 
they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the long 
ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. 
And there they ran the ship ashore upon the yellow 
sand, and furled the sail, and took the mast down, 
and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down 
the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest. 

And there Heracles went away into the woods, bow 
in hand, to hunt wild deer; and Hylas the fair boy 
slipt away after him, and followed him by stealth, 
until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down 
weary to rest himself by the side of a lake ; and there 
the water nymphs came up to look at him, and loved 
him, and carried him down under the lake to be 
their playfellow, forever happy and young. And 
Heracles sought for him in vain, shouting his 
name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never 
heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. 
So while Heracles wandered searching for him, a 
fair breeze sprang up, and Heracles was nowhere 
to be found; and the Argo sailed away, and 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


105 


Heracles was left behind, and never saw the noble 
Phasian stream. 

Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where 
Amycus the giant ruled, and cared nothing for the 
laws of Zeus, but challenged all strangers to box with 
him, and those whom he conquered he slew. But 
Polydeuces the boxer struck him a harder blow than 
he ever felt before, and slew him; and the Minuai 
went on up the Bosphorus, till they came to the city 
of Phineus, the fierce Bithynian king; for Zetes and 
Calais bade Jason land there, because they had a 
work to do. 

And they went up from the shore toward the city, 
through forests white with snow ; and Phineus came 
out to meet them with a lean and woful face, and 
said, “ Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of bitter 
blasts, a land of cold and misery; yet I will feast you 
as best I can.” And he led them -in, and set meat 
before them ; but before they could put their hands 
to their mouths, down came two fearful monsters, the 
like of whom man never saw; for they had the faces 
and the hair of fair maidens, but the wings and claws 
of hawks; and they snatched the meat from off the 
table, and flew shrieking out above the roofs. 

Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, “These 
are the Harpies, whose names are the Whirlwind and 
the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of the 
Amber-nymph, and they rob us night and day. They 


106 


THE ARGONAUTS . 


carried off the daughters of Pandareus, whom all the 
Gods had blest; for Aphrodite fed them on Olympus 
with honey and milk and wine ; and Hera gave them 
beauty and wisdom, and Athene skill in all the arts; 
hut when they came to their wedding, the Harpies 
snatched them both away, and gave them to be slaves 
to the Erinnues, and live in horror all their days. 
And now they haunt me, and my people, and the 
Bosphorus, with fearful storms; and sweep away our 
food from off our tables, so that we starve in spite of 
all our wealth.” 

Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of 
the North-wind, and said, “Do you not know us, 
Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our 
backs?” And Phineus hid his face in terror; but he 
answered not a word. 

“ Because you have been a traitor, Phineus, the 
Harpies haunt you night and day. Where is Cleopa- 
tra, our sister, your wife, whom you keep in prison? 
And where are her two children, whom you blinded 
in your rage, at the bidding of an evil woman, and 
cast them out upon the rocks? Swear to us that you 
will right our sister, and cast out that wicked woman, 
and then we will free you from your plague, and drive 
the whirlwind maidens from the south : but if not, 
we will put out your eyes, as you put out the eyes of 
your own sons.” 

Then Phineus swore an oath to them, and drove 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


107 


out the wicked woman; and Jason took those two 
poor children, and cured their eyes with magic herbs. 

But Zetes and Calais rose up sadly, and said, 
“Farewell, now, heroes all; farewell, our dear com- 
panions, with whom we played on Pelion in old 
times ; for a fate is laid upon us, and our day is come 
at last, in which we may hunt the whirlwinds over 
land and sea forever ; and if we catch them they die, 
and if not, we die ourselves.” 

At that all the heroes wept: but the two young 
men sprang up, and aloft into the air after the Har- 
pies, and the battle of the winds began. 

The heroes trembled in silence as they heard the 
shrieking of the blasts; while the palace rocked, and 
all the city, and great stones were torn from the 
crags, and the forest-pines were hurled eastward, 
north and south and east and west, and the Bosphorus 
boiled white with foam, and the clouds were dashed 
against the cliffs. 

But at last the battle ended, and the Harpies fled 
screaming toward the south, and the sons of the 
North-wind rushed after them, and brought clear 
sunshine where they passed. For many a league they 
followed them, over all the isles of the Cyclades, and 
away to the southwest across Hellas, till they came to 
the Ionian sea, and there they fell upon the Echina- 
des, at the mouth of the Achelous; and those isles 
were called the Whirlwind Isles for many a hundred 


103 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


years. But what became of Zetes and Calais I know 
not; for the heroes never saw them again: and some 
say that Heracles met them, and quarrelled with 
them, and slew them with his arrows; and some say 
that they fell down from weariness and the heat of 
the summer sun, and that the Sun-god buried them 
among the Cyclades, in the pleasant Isle of Tenos; 
and for many hundred years their grave was shown 
there, and over it a pillar, which turned to every 
wind. But those dark storms and whirlwinds haunt 
the Bosphorus until this day. 

But the Argonauts went eastward, and out into the 
open sea, which we now call the Black Sea, but it was 
called the Euxine then. No Hellen had ever crossed 
it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and its rocks, and 
shoals, and fogs, and bitter freezing storms ; and they 
told strange stories of it, some false and some half 
true, how it stretched northward to the ends of the 
earth, and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the everlast- 
ing night, and the regions of the dead. So the 
heroes trembled, for all their courage, as they came 
into that wild Black Sea, and saw it stretching out 
before them, without a shore, as far as eye could see. 

And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them, — “ We 
shall come now to the wandering blue rocks; my 
mother warned me of them, Calliope, the immortal 
muse.” 

And soon they saw the blue rocks shining like 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


109 


spires and castles of gray glass, while an ice-cold wind 
blew from them, and chilled all the heroes’ hearts. 
And as they neared, they could see them heaving, as 
they rolled upon the long sea-waves, crashing and 
grinding together, till the roar went up to heaven. 
The sea sprang up in spouts between them, and swept 
round them in white sheets of foam ; but their heads 
swung nodding high in air, while the wind whistled 
shrill among the crags. 

The heroes’ hearts sank within them, and they lay 
upon their oars in fear; but Orpheus called to Tiphys 
the helmsman — “Between them we must pass; so 
look ahead fgr an opening, and be brave, for Hera is 
with us.” But Tiphys the cunning helmsman stood 
silent, clenching his teeth, till he saw a heron come 
flying mast-high toward the rocks, and hover a while 
before them, as if looking for a passage through. 
Then he cried, “ Hera has sent us a pilot; let us fol- 
low the cunning bird.” 

Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till 
he saw a hidden gap, and into it he rushed like an 
arrow, while the heroes watched what would befall. 

And the blue rocks clashed together as the bird fled 
swiftly through; but they struck but a feather from 
his tail, and then rebounded apart at the shock. 

Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted; 
and the oars bent like withes beneath their strokes, 
as they rushed between those toppling ice-crags, and 


110 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks 
could meet again they had passed them, and were 
safe out in the open sea. 

And after that they sailed on wearily along the 
Asian coast, by the Black Cape and Thyneis, where 
the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the sea, and 
Sangarius, whose waters float on the Euxine, till 
they came to Wolf the river, and to Wolf the kindly 
king. And there died two brave heroes, Idmon and 
Tiphys the wise helmsman ; one died of an evil sick- 
ness, and one a wild boar slew. So the heroes heaped 
a mound above them, and set upon it an oar on high, 
and left them there to sleep together, on the far-off 
Lycian shore. But Idas killed the boar, and avenged 
Tiphys; and Ancaios took the rudder and was helms- 
man, and steered them on toward the east. 

And they went on past Sinope, and many a mighty 
river’s mouth, and past many a barbarous tribe, and 
the cities of the Amazons, the warlike women of the 
East, till all night they heard the clank of anvils and 
the roar of furnace-blasts, and the forge-fires shone 
like sparks through the darkness, in the mountain 
glens aloft; for they were come to the shores of the 
Chalybes, the smiths who never tire, but serve Ares 
the cruel War-god, forging weapons day and night. 

And at day-dawn they looked eastward, and mid- 
way between the sea and the sky they saw white 
snow-peaks hanging, glittering sharp and bright above 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


Ill 


the clouds. And they knew that they were come to 
Caucasus, at the end of all the earth; Caucasus the 
highest of all mountains, the father of the rivers of 
the East. On his peak lies chained the Titan, while 
a vulture tears his heart; and at his feet are piled 
dark forests round the magic Colchian land. 

And they rowed three days to the eastward, while 
Caucasus rose higher hour by hour, till they saw the 
dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong to the sea, 
and shining above the tree-tops, the golden roofs of 
King Aietes, the child of the sun. 

Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman, “We are 
come to our goal at last; for there are the roofs of 
Aietes, and the woods where all poisons grow; but 
who can tell us where among them is hid the golden 
fleece? Many a toil must we bear ere we find it, and 
bring it home to Greece." 

But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart was 
high and bold; and he said, “I will go alone up to 
Aietes, though he be the child of the sun, and win 
him with soft words. Better so than to go altogether, 
and to come to blows at once." But the Minuai 
would not stay behind, so they rowed boldly up the 
stream. 

And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart 
with fear. He thought he saw a shining star, which 
fell into his daughter’s lap; and that Medeia his 
daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river- 


112 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


side, and cast it in, and there the whirling river bore 
it down, and out into the Eu'xine Sea. 

Then he leapt up in fear, and bade his servants 
bring his chariot, that he might go down to the river- 
side and appease the nymphs, and the heroes whose 
spirits haunt the bank. So he went down in his 
golden chariot, and his daughters by his side, Medeia 
the fair witch-maiden, and Chalciope, who had been 
Phrixus’ wife, and behind him a crowd of servants 
and soldiers, for he was a rich and mighty prince. 

And as he drove down by the reedy river, he saw 
Argo sliding up beneath the bank, and many a hero 
in her, like immortals for beauty and for strength, as 
their weapons glittered round them in the level morn- 
ing sunlight, through the white mist of the stream. 
But Jason was the noblest of all; for Hera who loved 
him gave him beauty, and tallness, and terrible- 
manhood. 

And when they came near together and looked into 
each other’s eyes, the heroes were awed before Aietes 
as he shone in his chariot, like his father, the glorious 
Sun; for his robes were of rich gold tissue, and the 
rays of his diadem flashed fire; and in his hand he 
bore a jewelled sceptre, which glittered like the stars; 
and sternly he looked at them under his brows, and 
sternly he spoke and loud, — 

“ Who are you, and what want you here, that you 
come to the shore of Cutaia? Do you take no account 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


113 


of my rule, nor of my people the Colchians who serve 
me, who never tired yet in the battle, and know well 
how to face an invader?” 

And the heroes sat silent a while before the face of 
that ancient king. But Hera the awful goddess put 
courage into Jason’s heart, and he rose and shouted 
loudly in answer, “ We are no pirates nor lawless men. 
We come not to plunder and to ravage, or carry away 
slaves from your land; but my uncle, the son of 
Poseidon, Pelias the Minuan king, he it is who has 
set me on a quest to bring home the golden fleece. 
And these too, my bold comrades, they are no name- 
less men; for some are the sons of immortals, and 
some of heroes far renowned. And we too never tire 
in battle, and know well how to give blows and to 
take; yet we wish to be guests at your table; it will 
be better so for both.” 

Then Aietes’ rage rushed up like a whirlwind, 
and his eyes flashed fire as he heard ; but he crushed 
his anger down in his breast, and spoke mildly a cun- 
ning speech, — 

“ If you will fight for the fleece with my Colchians, 
then many a man must die. But do you indeed ex- 
pect to win from me the fleece in fight? So few you 
are, that if you be worsted, I can load your ship with, 
your corpses. But if you will be ruled by me, you 
will find it better far to choose the best man among 
you, and let him fulfil the labors which I demand. 

8 


114 


THE ARGONAUTS . 


Then I will give him the golden fleece for a prize and 
a glory to you all." 

So saying, he turned his horses and drove back in 
silence to the town. And the Minuai sat silent with 
sorrow, and longed for Heracles and his strength ; for 
there was no facing the thousands of the Colchians, 
and the fearful chance of war. 

But Chalciope, Phrixus’ widow, went weeping to 
the town; for she remembered her Minuan husband, 
and all the pleasures of her youth, while she watched 
the fair faces of his kinsmen, and their long locks of 
golden hair. And she whispered to Medeia her sister 
— “ Why should all these brave men die? Why does 
not my father give them up the fleece, that my hus- 
band’s spirit may have rest?" 

And Medeia’s heart pitied the heroes, and Jason 
most of all ; and she answered, “ Our father is stern 
and terrible, and who can win the golden fleece?" 
But Chalciope said, “These men are not like our 
men; there is nothing which they cannot dare nor 
do." 

And Medeia thought of Jason and his brave coun- 
tenance, and said, “If there was one among them 
who knew no fear, I could show him how to win the 
fleece." 

So in the dusk of evening they went down to the 
river-side, Chalciope and Medeia the witch-maiden, 
and Argus, Phrixus’ son. And Argus the boy crept 


THE ARGONAUTS . 


115 


forward among the beds of reeds till he came where 
the heroes were sleeping, on the thwarts of the ship, 
beneath the bank, while Jason kept ward on shore, 
and leant upon his lance full of thought. And the 
boy came to Jason, and said, — 

“ I am the son of Phrixus, your cousin ; and Chal- 
ciope my mother waits for you, to talk about the 
golden fleece.” 

Then Jason went boldly with the boy, and found 
the two princesses standing ; and when Chakdope saw 
him she wept, and took his hands, and cried, — ■ 

“ 0 cousin of my beloved, go home before you die!" 

“ It would be base to go home now, fair princess, 
and to have sailed all these seas in vain.” Then both 
the princesses besought him : but Jason said, “ It is 
too late.” 

“ But you know not,” said Medeia, “ what he must 
do who would win the fleece. He must tame the two 
brazen-footed bulls, who breathe devouring flame; 
and with them he must plough ere nightfall four 
acres in the field of Ares; and he must sow them 
with serpents’ teeth, of which each tooth springs up 
into an armed man. Then he must fight with all 
those warriors; and little will it profit him to conquer 
them ; for the fleece is guarded by a serpent more 
huge than any mountain pine; and over his body you 
must step, if you would reach the golden fleece.” 

Then Jason laughed bitterly. “Unjustly is that 


116 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


fleece kept fiere, and by an unjnst and lawless king; 
and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I will at- 
tempt it ere another sun be set.” 

Then Medeia trembled, and said, “No mortal man 
can reach that fleece, unless I guide him through. 
For round it, beyond the river, is a wall full nine ells 
high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty 
gate of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall 
is arched, with golden battlements above. And over 
the gateway sits Brimo, the wild witch-huntress of 
the woods, brandishing a pine-torch in her hands, 
while her mad hounds howl around. No man dare 
meet her or look on her, but only I her priestess, and 
she watches far and wide lest any stranger should 
come near.” 

“No wall so high but it may be climbed at last, 
and no wood so thick but it may be crawled through ; 
no serpent so wary but he may be charmed, or witch- 
queen so fierce but spells may soothe her; and I may 
yet win the golden fleece, if a wise maiden help bold 
men.” 

And he looked at Medeia cunningly, and held her 
with his glittering eye, till she blushed and trembled, 
and said, — 

“ Who can face the fire of the bull’s breath, and 
fight ten thousand armed men?” 

“He whom you help,” said Jason, flattering her, 
“ for your fame is spread over all the earth. Are you 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


117 


not the queen of all enchantresses, wiser even than 
your sister Circe, in her fairy island in the West?” 

“ Would that I were with my sister Circe in her 
fairy island in the West, far away from sore tempta- 
tion, and thoughts which tear the heart ! But if it 
must be so — for why should you die? — I have an 
ointment here; I made it from the magic ice-flower 
■which sprang from Prometheus’ wound, above the 
clouds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow. 
Anoint yourself with that, and you shall have in you 
seven men’s strength; and anoint your shield with it, 
and neither fire nor sword can harm you. But what 
you begin you must end before sunset, for its virtue 
lasts only one day. And anoint your helmet with it 
before you sow the serpent’s teeth; and when the 
sons of earth spring up, cast your helmet among their 
ranks, and the deadly crop of the War-god’s field will 
mow itself, and perish.” 

Then Jason fell on his knees before her, and 
thanked her and kissed her hands; and she gave him 
the vase of ointment, and fled trembling through the 
reeds. And Jason told his comrades what had hap- 
pened, and showed them the box of ointment; and 
all rejoiced but Idas, and he grew mad with envy. 

And at sunrise Jason went and bathed, and anointed 
himself from head to foot, and his shield, and his 
helmet, and his weapons, and bade his comrades try 
the spell. So they tried to bend his lance, but it 


118 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


stood like an iron bar; and Idas in spite hewed at 
it with his sword, hut the blade flew to splinters in 
his face. Then they hurled their lances at his shield, 
hut the spear-points turned like lead ; and Caineus 
tried to throw him, but he never stirred a foot; and 
Polydeuces struck him with his fist, a blow which 
would have killed an ox; but Jason only smiled, and 
the heroes danced about him with delight; and he 
leapt, and ran, and shouted, in the joy of that enor- 
mous strength, till the sun rose, and it was time to 
go and to claim Aietes’ promise. 

So he sent up Telamon and Aithalides to tell Aietes 
that he was ready for the fight ; and they went up 
among the marble walls, and beneath the roofs of 
gold, and stood in Aietes’ hall, while he grew pale 
with rage. 

“Fulfil your promise to us, child of the blazing 
sun. Give us the serpents’ teeth, and let loose the 
fiery bulls; for we have found a champion among us 
who can win the golden fleece.” 

And Aietes bit his lips, for he fancied that they 
had fled away by night; but he could not go back 
from his promise, so he gave them the serpents’ 
teeth. 

Then he called for his chariot, and his horses, and 
sent heralds through all the town ; and all the people 
went out with him to the dreadful War-god’s field. 

And there Aietes sat upon his throne, with his 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


119 


warriors on each hand, thousands and tens of thou- 
sands, clothed from head to foot in steel-chain mail. 
And the people and the women crowded to every 
window, and bant, and wall; while the Minuai stood 
together, a mere handful in the midst of that great 
host. 

And Chalciope was there, and Argus, trembling, 
and Medeia, wrapped closely in her veil ; but Aietes 
did not know that she was muttering cunning spells 
between her lips. 

Then Jason cried, “Fulfil your promise, and let 
your fiery bulls come forth.” 

Then Aietes bade open the gates, and the magic 
bulls leapt out. Their brazen hoofs rang upon the 
ground, and their nostrils sent out sheets of flame, as 
they rushed with lowered heads upon Jason; but he 
never flinched a step. The flame of their breath 
swept round him, but it singed not a hair of his 
head ; and the bulls stopped short and trembled, when 
Medeia began her spell. 

Then Jason sprang upon the nearest, and seized 
him by the horn; and up and down they wrestled, 
till the bull fell grovelling on his knees ; for the heart 
of the brute died within him, and his mighty limbs 
were loosed, beneath the steadfast eye of that dark 
witch-maiden and the magic whisper of her lips. 

So both the bulls were tamed and yoked; and 
Jason bound them to the plough, and goaded them 


120 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


onward with liis lance, till he had ploughed the sacred 
field. 

And all the Minuai shouted ; but Aietes bit his lips 
with rage; for the half of Jason’s work was over, and 
the sun was yet high in heaven. 

Then he took the serpents’ teeth and sowed them, 
and waited what would befall. But Medeia looked 
at him and at his helmet, lest he should forget the 
lesson she had taught. 

And every furrow heaved and bubbled, and out of 
every clod rose a man. Out of the earth they rose by 
thousands, each clad from head to foot in steel, and 
drew their swords and rushed on Jason, where he 
stood in the midst alone. 

Then the Minuai grew pale with fear for him ; but 
Aietes laughed a bitter laugh. “See! if I had not 
warriors enough already round me, I could call them 
out of the bosom of the earth. ” 

But Jason snatched off his helmet, and hurled it 
into the thickest of the throng. And blind madness 
came upon them, suspicion, hate, and fear; and one 
cried to his fellow, “Thou didst strike me!” and 
another, “Thou art Jason; thou shalt die!” So fury 
seized those earth-born phantoms, and each turned 
his hand against the rest; and they fought and were 
never weary, till they all lay dead upon the ground. 
Then the magic furrows opened, and the kind earth 
took them home into her breast ; and the grass grew 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


121 


up all green again above them, and Jason’s work was 
done. 

Then the Minuai rose and shouted, till Prometheus 
heard them from his crag. And Jason cried — “ Lead 
me to the fleece this moment, before the sun goes 
down.” 

But Aietes thought — “ He has conquered the bulls; 
and sown and reaped the deadly crop. Who is this 
who is proof against all magic? He may kill the 
serpent yet.” So he delayed, and sat taking counsel 
with his princes, till the sun went down and all was 
dark. Then he bade a herald cry, “ Every man to 
his home for to-night. To-morrow we will meet 
these heroes, and speak about the golden fleece.” 

Then he turned and looked at Medeia: “This is 
your doing, false witch-maid! You have helped 
these yellow-haired strangers, and brought shame 
upon your father and yourself!” 

Medeia shrank and trembled, and her face grew 
pale with fear; and Aietes knew that she was guilty, 
and whispered, “If they win the fleece, you die!” 

But the Minuai marched toward their ship, growl- 
ing like lions cheated of their prey; for they saw that 
Aietes meant to mock them, and to cheat them out 
of all their toil. And Oileus said, “ Let us go to the 
grove together, and take the fleece by force.” 

And Idas the rash cried, “Let us draw lots who 
shall go in first; for while the dragon is devouring 


122 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


one, the rest can slay him, and carry off the fleece 
in peace.” But Jason held them back, though he 
praised them; for he hoped for Medeia’s help. 

And after a while Medeia came trembling, and 
wept a long while before she spoke. And at last, — 
“ My end is come, and I must die ; for my father 
has found out that I have helped you. You he would 
kill if he dared; but he. will not harm you, because 
you have been his guests. Go, then, go, and remem- 
ber poor Medeia when you are far away across the 
sea. ” But all the heroes cried — 

“ If you die, we die with you ; for without you we 
cannot win the fleece, and home we will not go with- 
out it, but fall here fighting to the last man.” 

“You need not die,” said Jason. “Flee home 
with us across the sea. Show us first how to win the 
fleece; for you can do it. Why else are you the 
priestess of the grove? Show us but how to win the 
fleece, and come with us, and you shall be my queen, 
and rule over the rich princes of the Minuai, in 
Iolcos by the sea.” 

And all the heroes pressed round, and vowed to her 
that she should be their queen. 

Medeia wept, and shuddered, and hid her face in 
her hands; for her heart yearned after her sisters and 
her playfellows, and the home where she was brought 
up as a child. But at last she looked up at Jason, 
and spoke between her sobs, — 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


123 


“ Must I leave my home and my people, to wander 
with strangers across the sea? The lot is cast, and I 
must endure it. I will show you how to win the 
golden fleece. Bring up your ship to the woodside, 
and moor her there against the bank; and let Jason 
come up at midnight, and one brave comrade with 
him, and meet me beneath the wall.” 

Then all the heroes cried together — “I will go!” 
“and I!” “and I!” And Idas the rash grew mad 
with envy; for he longed to be foremost in all things. 
But Medeia calmed them, and said, “ Orpheus shall 
go with Jason, and bring his magic harp; for I hear 
of him that he is the king of all minstrels, and can 
charm all things on earth.” 

And Orpheus laughed for joy, and clapped his 
hands, because the choice had fallen on him; for in 
those days poets and singers were as bold warriors as 
the best. 

So at midnight they went up the bank, and found 
Medeia; and beside came Absyrtus her young brother, 
leading a yearling lamb. 

Then Medeia brought them to a thicket, beside the 
War-god’s gate ; and there she bade Jason dig a ditch, 
and kill the lamb and leave it there, and strew on it 
magic herbs and honey from the honeycomb. 

Then sprang up through the earth, with the red 
fire flashing before her, Brimo the wild witch-huntress, 
while her mad hounds howled around. She had one 


124 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


head like a horse’s, and another like a ravening 
hound’s, and another like a hissing snake’s, and a 
sword in either hand. And she leapt into the ditch 
with her hounds, and they ate and drank their fill, 
while Jason and Orpheus trembled, and Medeia hid 
her eyes. And at last the witch-queen vanished, 
and fled with her hounds into the woods; and the bars 
of the gates fell down, and the brazen doors flew wide, 
and Medeia and the heroes ran forward and hurried 
through the poison wood, among the dark stems of 
the mighty beeches, guided by the gleam of the golden 
fleece, until they saw it hanging on one vast tree in 
the midst. And Jason would have sprung to seize it ; 
but Medeia held him back, and pointed shuddering to 
the tree-foot, where the mighty serpent lay, coiled in 
and out among the roots, with a body like a mountain 
pine. His coils stretched many a fathom, spangled 
with bronze and gold ; and half of him they could see, 
hut no more ; for the rest lay in the darkness far be- 
yond. 

And when he saw them coming, he lifted up his 
head, and watched them with his small bright eyes, 
and flashed his forked tongue, and roared like the 
fire among the woodlands till the forest tossed and 
groaned. For his cry shook the trees from leaf to 
root, and swept over the long reaches of the river, 
and over iEetes’ hall, and woke the sleepers in the 
city, till mothers clasped their children in their fear. 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


125 


But Medeia called gently to him; and he stretched 
out his long spotted neck, and licked her hand, and 
looked up in her face, as if to ask for food. Then 
she made a sign to Orpheus, and he began his magic 
song. 

And as he sung, the forest grew calm again, and 
the leaves on every tree hung still; and the serpent’s 
head sank down, and his brazen coils grew limp, and 
his glittering eyes closed lazily, till he breathed as 
gently as a child, while Orpheus called to pleasant 
Slumber, who gives peace to men, and beasts, and 
waves. 

Then Jason leapt forward warily, and stept across 
that mighty snake, and tore the fleece from off the 
tree-trunk; and the four rushed down the garden, 
to the bank where the Argo lay. 

There was silence for a moment, while Jason held 
the golden fleece on high. Then he cried — “ Go, now, 
good Argo, swift and steady, if ever you would see 
Pelion more.” 

And she went, as the heroes drove her, grim and 
silent all, with muffled oars, till the pine-wood bent 
like willow in their hands, and stout Argo groaned 
beneath their strokes. 

On and on, beneath the dewy darkness, they fled 
swiftly down the swirling stream ; underneath black 
walls, and temples, and the castles of the princes of 
the East; past sluice-mouths, and fragrant gardens, 


126 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


and groves of all strange fruits; past marshes where 
fat kine lay sleeping, and long beds of whispering 
reeds; till they heard the merry music of the surge 
upon the bar, as it tumbled in the moonlight all 
alone. 

Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the 
breakers like a horse; for she knew the time was 
come to show her mettle, and win honor for the 
heroes and herself. 

Into the surge they rushed, and Argo leapt the 
breakers like a horse, till the heroes stopped all pant- 
ing, each man upon his oar, as she slid into the still 
broad sea. 

Then Orpheus took his harp and sang a paean, till 
the heroes’ hearts rose high again ; and they rowed on 
stoutly and steadfastly, away into the darkness of the 
West. 


PART V. 


HOW THE ARGONAUTS WERE DRIVEN INTO THE 
UNKNOWN SEA. 

So they fled away in haste to the westward : hut 
Aietes manned his fleet and followed them. And 
Lynceus the quick-eyed saw him coming, while he 
was still many a mile away, and cried, “ I see a hun- 
dred ships, like a flock of white swans, far in the east.” 
And at that they rowed hard, like heroes; but the 
ships came nearer every hour. 

Then Medeia, the dark witch-maiden, laid a cruel 
and cunning plot; for she killed Absyrtus her young 
brother, and cast him into the sea, and said, “Ere 
my father can take up his corpse and bury it, he must 
wait long, and be left far behind.” 

And all the heroes shuddered, and looked one at 
the other for shame; yet they did not punish that 
dark witch-woman, because she had won for them the 
golden fleece. 

And when Aietes came to the place, he saw the 
floating corpse; and he stopped a long while, and be- 
wailed his son, and took him up, and went home. But 


128 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


he sent on his sailors toward the westward, and bound 
them by a mighty curse : “ Bring back to me that 
dark witch-woman, that she may die a dreadful death. 
But if you return without her, you shall die by the 
same death yourselves.” 

So the Argonauts escaped for that time : but Father 
Zeus saw that foul crime; and out of the heavens he 
sent a storm, and swept the ship far from her course. 
Day after day the storm drove her, amid foam and 
blinding mist, till they knew no longer where they 
were, for the sun was blotted from the skies. And 
at last the ship struck on a shoal, amid low isles of 
mud and sand, and the waves rolled over her and 
through her, and the heroes lost all hope of life. 

Then Jason cried to Hera: “Fair queen, who hast 
befriended us till now, why hast thou left us in our 
misery, to die here among unknown seas? It is hard 
to lose the honor which we have won with such toil 
and danger, and hard never to see Hellas again, and 
the pleasant bay of Pagasai.” 

Then out and spoke the magic bough which stood 
upon the Argo’s beak : “ Because Father Zeus is angry, 
all this has fallen on you ; for a cruel crime has been 
done on board, and the sacred ship is foul with blood.” 

At that some of the heroes cried : “ Medeia is the 
murderess. Let the witch-woman bear her sin and 
die !” And they seized Medeia, to hurl her into the 
sea and atone for the young boy’s death: but the 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


129 


magic bough spoke again : “ Let her live till her crimes 
are full. Vengeance waits for her, slow and sure; 
but she must live, for you need her still. She must 
show you the way to her sister Circe, who lives among 
the islands of the West. To her you must sail, a 
weary way, and she shall cleanse you from your guilt.” 

Then all the heroes wept aloud when they heard the 
sentence of the oak ; for they knew that a dark jour- 
ney lay before them, and years of bitter toil. And 
some upbraided the dark witch-woman, and some said, 
“ Nay, we are her debtors still ; without her we should 
never have won the fleece.” But most of them bit 
their lips in silence, for they feared the witch’s spells. 

And now the sea grew calmer, and the sun shone 
out once more, and the heroes thrust the ship oil the 
sand-bank, and rowed forward on their wea-ry course, 
under the guiding of the dark witch-maiden, into the 
wastes of the unknown sea. 

Whither they went I cannot tell, nor how they came 
to Circe’s isle. Some say that they went to the west- 
ward, and up the Ister* stream, and so came into the 
Adriatic, dragging their ship over the snowy Alps. 
And others say that they went southward, into the 
Red Indian Sea, and past the sunny lands where spices 
grow, round ^Ethiopia toward the West; and that at 
last they came to Libya, and dragged their ship across 
the burning sands, and over the hills into the Syrtes, 
* The Danube. 


9 


130 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


where the flats and quicksands spread for many a mile, 
between rich Cyrene and the Lotus-eaters’ shore. But 
all these are hut dreams, and fables, and dim hints 
of unknown lands. 

But all say that they came to a place where they 
had to drag their ship across the land nine days with 
ropes and rollers, till they came into an unknown sea. 
And the best of all the old songs tells us, how they 
went away toward the North, till they came to the 
slope of Caucasus, where it sinks into the sea; and to 
the narrow Cimmerian Bosphorus,* where the Titan 
swam across upon the bull ; and thence into the lazy 
waters of the still Maeotid lake, f And thence they 
went northward ever, up the Tanais, which we call 
Don, past the Geloni and Sauromatai, and many a 
wandering shepherd-tribe, and the one-eyed Arimaspi, 
of whom old Greek poets tell, who steal the gold from 
the Griffins, in the cold RhiphaianJ hills. 

And they passed the Scythian archers, and the Tauri 
who eat men, and the wandering Hyperboreai, who 
feed their flocks beneath the pole-star, until they 
came into the northern ocean, the dull dead Cronian 
Sea.§ And there Argo would move on no longer; and 
each man clasped his elbow, and leaned his head upon 
his hand, heart-broken with toil and hunger, and 

* Between the Crimea and Circassia. 

f The Sea of Azov. 

X The Ural Mountains ? § The Baltic ? 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


131 


gave himself up to death. But brave Ancaios the 
helmsman cheered up their hearts once more, and bade 
them leap on land, and haul the ship with ropes and 
rollers for many a weary day, whether over land, or 
mud, or ice, I know not, for the song is mixed and 
broken like a dream. And it says next, how they 
came to the rich nation of the famous long-lived men ; 
and to the coast of the Cimmerians, who never saw 
the sun, buried deep in the glens of the snow moun- 
tains; and to the fair land of Hermione, where dwelt 
the most righteous of all nations; and to the gates of 
the world below, and to the dwelling-place of 
dreams. 

And at last Ancaios shouted — “Endure a little 
while, brave friends, the worst is surely past; for I 
can see the pure west wind ruffle the water, and hear 
the ro^r of ocean on the sands. So raise up the mast, 
and set the sail, and face what comes like men.” 

Then out spoke the magic bough — “ Ah, would that 
I had perished long ago, and been whelmed by the 
dread blue rocks, beneath the fierce swell of the Eux- 
ine! Better so than to wander forever disgraced 
by the guilt of my princes; for the blood of Absyrtus 
still tracks me, and woe follows hard upon woe. And 
now some dark horror will clutch me, if I come near 
the Isle of Ierne.* Unless you will cling to the land, 
and sail southward and southward forever, I shall 
* Britain ? 


132 


THE ARGONATUS. 


wander beyond the Atlantic, to the ocean which has 
no shore.” 

Then they blest the magic bough, and sailed south- 
ward along the land. But ere they could pass Ierne, 
the land of mists and storms, the wild wind came 
down, dark and roaring, and caught the sail, and 
strained the ropes. And away they drove twelve 
nights, on the wide wild western sea, through the 
foam, and over the rollers, while they saw neither sun 
nor stars. And they cried again, “We shall perish, for 
we know not where we are. We are lost in the dreary 
damp darkness, and cannot tell north from south.” 

But Lynceus the long-sighted called gayly from the 
bows — “Take heart again, brave sailors; for I see a 
pine-clad isle, and the halls of the kind Earth-mother, 
with a crown of clouds around them.” 

But Orpheus said, “ Turn from them, for no living 
man can land there; there is no harbour on the coast, 
but steep-walled cliffs all round.” 

So Ancaios turned the ship away ; and for three days 
more they sailed on, till they came to Aiaia, Circe’s 
home, and the fairy island of the West.* 

And there Jason bid them land, and seek about for 
any sign of living man. And as they went inland, 
Circe met them, coming down toward the ship; and 
they trembled when they saw her, for her hair, and 
face, and robes, shone like flame. 

* The Azores? 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


133 


And she came and looked at Medeia; and Medeia 
hid her face beneath her veil. 

And Circe cried, “Ah, wretched girl, have you for- 
gotten all your sins, that you come hither to my 
island, where the flowers bloom all the year round? 
Where is your aged father, and the brother whom you 
killed? Little do I expect you to return in safety 
with these strangers whom you love. I will send you 
food and wine : but your ship must not stay here, for 
it is foul with sin, and foul with sin its crew.” 

And the heroes prayed her, but in vain, and cried, 
“Cleanse us from our guilt!” But she sent them 
away and said,“ Go on to Malea, and there you may be 
cleansed, and return home.” 

Then a fair wind rose, and they sailed eastward, by 
Tartessus on the Iberian shore, till they came to the 
Pillars of Hercules, and the Mediterranean Sea. And 
thence they sailed on through the deeps of Sardinia, 
and past the Ausonian islands, and the capes of the 
Tyrrhenian shore, till they came to a flowery island, 
upon a still bright summer’s eve. And as they neared 
it, slowly and wearily, they heard sweet songs upon 
the shore. But when Medeia heard it, she started, 
and cried, “ Beware, all heroes, for these are the rocks 
of the Sirens. You must pass close by them, for 
there is no other channel; but those who listen to 
that song are lost.” 

Then Orpheus spoke, the king of all minstrels — 


134 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


“ Let them match their song against mine. I have 
charmed stones, and trees, and dragons, how much 
more the hearts of man!” So he caught up his tyre, 
and stood upon the poop, and began his magic song. 

And now they could see the Sirens, on Anthemousa, 
the flowery isle; three fair maidens sitting on the 
beach, beneath a red rock in the setting sun, among 
beds of crimson poppies and golden asphodel. Slowly 
they sung, and sleepily, with silver voices, mild and 
clear, which stole over the golden waters, and into 
the hearts of all the heroes, in spite of Orpheus’ 
song. 

And all things stayed around and listened; the 
gulls sat in white lines along the rocks; on the beach 
great seals lay basking, and. kept time with lazy 
heads; while silver shoals of fish came up to hearken, 
and whispered as they broke the shining calm. The 
wind overhead hushed his whistling, as he shepherded 
his clouds toward the west; and the clouds stood in 
mid blue, and listened dreaming, like a flock of golden 
sheep. 

And as the heroes listened, the oars fell from their 
hands, and their heads drooped on their breasts, and 
they closed their heavy eyes; and they dreamed of 
bright still gardens, and of slumbers under murmur- 
ing pines, till all their toil seemed foolishness, and 
they thought of their renown no more. 

Then one lifted his head suddenly, and cried, 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


135 


“What use in wandering forever? Let us stay here 
and rest a while.” And another, “ Let us row to the 
shore, and hear the words they sing.” And another, 
“ I care not for the words, but for the music. They 
shall sing me to sleep, that I may rest.” 

And Butes, the son of Pandion, the fairest of all 
mortal men, leapt out and swam toward the shore, 
crying, “ I come, 1 come, fair maidens, to live and 
die here, listening to your song.” 

Then Medeia clapped her hands together, and cried, 
“Sing louder, Orpheus, sing a bolder strain; wake up 
these hapless sluggards, or none of them will see the 
land of Hellas more.” 

Then Orpheus lifted his harp, and crashed his cun- 
ning hand across the strings; and his music and his 
voice rose like a trumpet through the still evening 
air; into the air it rushed like thunder, till the 
rocks rang and the sea; and into their souls it 
rushed like wine, till all hearts beat fast within their 
breasts. 

And he sung the song of Perseus, how the Gods led 
him over land and sea, and how he slew the loathly 
Gorgon, and won himself a peerless bride; and how 
he sits now with the Gods upon Olympus, a shining 
star in the sky, immortal with his immortal bride, 
and honored by all men below. 

So Orpheus sang, and the Sirens, answering each 
other across the golden sea, till Orpheus’ voice 


136 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


drowned the Sirens, and the heroes caught their oars 
again. 

And they cried, “ We will be men like Perseus, and 
we will dare and suffer to the last. Sing us his song 
again, brave Orpheus, that we may forget the Sirens 
and their spell.” 

And as Orpheus sang, they dashed their oars into 
the sea, and kept time to his music, as they fled fast 
away; and the Sirens’ voices died behind them, in 
the hissing of the foam along their wake. 

But Butes swam to the shore, and knelt down be- 
fore the Sirens, and cried, “Sing on! sing on!” But 
he could say no more ; for a charmed sleep came over 
him, and a pleasant humming in his ears; and he sank 
all along upon the pebbles, and forgot all heaven and 
earth, and never looked at that sad beach around him, 
all strewn with the bones of men. 

Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters, with a 
cruel smile upon their lips; and slowly they crept 
down towards him, like leopards who creep upon their 
prey; and their hands were like the talons of eagles, 
as they stept across the bones of their victims to en- 
joy their cruel feast. 

But fairest Aphrodite saw him from the highest 
Idalianpeak, and she pitied his youth and his beauty, 
and leapt up from her golden throne ; and like a fall- 
ing star she cleft the sky, and left a trail of glittering 
light, till she stooped to the Isle of the Sirens and 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


137 


snatched their prey from their claws. And she lifted 
Butes as he lay sleeping, and wrapt him in a golden 
mist; and she bore him to the peak of Lilybseum; 
and he slept there many a pleasant year. 

But when the Sirens saw that they were conquered, 
they shrieked for envy and rage, and leapt from the 
beach into the sea, and were changed into rocks until 
this day. 

Then they came to the straits by Lilybaeum, and 
saw Sicily, the three-cornered island, under which 
Enceladus the giant lies groaning day and night, and 
when he turns the earth quakes, and his breath bursts 
out in roaring flames from the highest cone of .Etna, 
above the chestnut woods. And there Charybdis 
caught them in its fearful coils of wave, and rolled 
mast-high about them, and spun them round and 
round ; and they could go neither back nor forward, 
while the whirlpool sucked them in. 

And while they struggled they saw near them, on 
the other side the strait, a rock stand in the water, 
with a peak wrapt round in clouds; a rock which no 
man could climb, though he had twenty hands and 
feet, for the stone was smooth and slippery, as if pol- 
ished by man’s hand; and half way up a misty cave 
looked out toward the west. 

And when Orpheus saw it, he groaned and struck 
his hands together. And “ Little will it help to us,” 
he cried, “to escape the jaws of the whirlpool; for 


138 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


in that cave lives Scylla, the sea-hag with a young 
whelp’s voice; my mother warned me of her ere we 
sailed away from Hellas ; she has six heads, and six 
long necks, and hides in that dark cleft. And from 
her cave she fishes for all things which pass by, for 
sharks, and seals, and dolphins, and all the herds of 
Amphitrite. And never ship’s crew boasted that 
they came safe by her rock ; for she bends her long 
necks down to them, and every mouth takes up a man. 
And who will help us now? For Hera and Zeus 
hate us, and our ship is foul with guilt; so we must 
die, whatever befalls.” 

Then out of the depths came Thetis, Peleus’ sil- 
ver-footed bride, for love of her gallant husband, and 
all her nymphs around her; and they played like 
snow-white dolphins, diving on from wave to wave, 
before the ship, and in her wake, and beside her, as 
dolphins play. And they caught the ship, and guided 
her, and passed her on from hand to hand, and tossed 
her through the billows, as maidens toss the ball. And 
when Scylla stooped to seize her, they struck back her 
ravening heads, and foul Scylla whined as a whelp 
whines, at the touch of their gentle hands. But she 
shrank into her cave affrighted; for all bad things 
shrink from good ; and Argo leapt safe past her, while 
a fair breeze rose behind. Then Thetis and her 
nymphs sank down to their coral caves beneath the sea, 
and their gardens of green and purple, where live 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


139 


flowers bloom all the year round; while the heroes 
went on rejoicing, yet dreading what might come 
next. 

After that they rowed on steadily for many a weary 
day, till they saw a long high island, and beyond it a 
mountain land. And they searched till they found a 
harbor, and there rowed boldly in. But after a while 
they stopped and wondered ; for there stood a great 
city on the shore, and temples and walls and gardens, 
and castles high in air upon the cliffs. And on either 
side they saw a harbor, with a narrow mouth, but 
wide within ; and black ships without number, high 
and dry upon the shore. 1 

Then Ancaius, the wise helmsman, spoke, “What 
new wonder is this? I know all isles, and harbors, 
and the windings of all seas; and this should be Cor- 
cyra, where a few wild goatherds dwell. But whence 
come these new harbors, and vast works of polished 
stone?” 

But Jason said, “They can be no savage people. 
We will go in and take our chance.” 

So they rowed into the harbor, among a thousand 
black-beaked ships, each larger far than Argo, 
’toward a quay of polished stone. And they wondered 
at that mighty city, with its roofs of burnished brass, 
and long and lofty walls of marble, with strong pali- 
sades above. And the quays were full of people, mer- 
chants, and mariners, and slaves, going to and fro 


140 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


with merchandise among the crowd of ships. And 
the heroes’ hearts were humbled, and they looked at 
each other and said, “We thought ourselves a gallant 
crew when we sailed from Iolcos by the sea: but how 
small we look before this city, like an ant before a 
hive of bees.” 

Then the sailors hailed them roughly from the quay, 
“What men are you? — we want no strangers here, 
nor pirates. We keep our business to ourselves.” 

But Jason answered gently, with many a flattering 
word, and praised their city and their harbor, and 
their fleet of gallant ships. “ Surely you are the chil- 
dren of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; and we 
are but poor wandering mariners, worn out with thirst 
and toil. Give us but food and water, and we will go 
on our voyage in peace.” 

Then the sailors laughed and answered, “ Stranger, 
you are no fool; you talk like an honest man, and 
you shall find us honest too. We are the children of 
Poseidon, and the masters of the sea; but come ashore 
to us, and you shall have the best that we can give.” 

So they limped ashore, all stiff and weary, with long 
ragged beards and sunburnt cheeks, and garments 
torn and weather-stained, and weapons rusted with 
the spray, while the sailors laughed at them (for they 
were rough-tongued, though their hearts were frank 
and kind). And one said, “ These fellows are but raw 
sailors ; they look as if they had been sea-sick all the 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


141 


day.” And another, “ Their legs have grown crooked 
with much rowing, till they waddle in their walk like 
ducks.” 

At that Idas the rash would have struck them ; but 
Jason held him back, till one of the merchant kings 
spoke to them, a tall and stately man. 

“Do not be angry, strangers; the sailor boys must 
have their jest. But we will treat you justly and 
kindly, for strangers and poor men come from God ; 
and you seem no common sailors by your strength, 
and height, and weapons. Come up with me to the 
palace of Alcinous, the rich sea-going king, and we 
will feast you well and heartily; and after that you 
shall tell us your name.” 

But Medeia hung back, and trembled, and whis- 
pered in Jason’s ear, “We are betrayed, and are going 
to our ruin; for I see my countrymen among the 
crowd ; dark-eyed Colchi in steel mail-shirts, such as 
they wear in my father’s land.” 

“ It is too late to turn,” said Jason. And he spoke 
to the merchant king — “ What country is this, good 
sir; and what is this new-built town?” 

“ This is the land of the Phseaces, beloved by all the 
Immortals ; for they come hither and feast like friends 
with us, and sit by our side in the hall. Hither we 
came from Liburnia to escape the unrighteous Cy- 
clopes; for they robbed us, peaceful merchants, of our 
hard-earned wares and wealth. So Nausithous, the 


142 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


son of Poseidon, brought us hither, and died in peace; 
and now his son Alcinous rules us, and Arete the 
wisest of queens.” 

So they went up across the square, and wondered 
still more as they went; for along the quays lay in 
order great cables, and yards, and masts, before the 
fair temples of Poseidon, the blue-haired king of the 
seas. And round the square worked the shipwrights, 
as many in number as ants, twining ropes, and hew- 
ing timber, and smoothing long yards and oars. And 
the Minuai went on in silence through clean white 
marble streets, till they came to the hall of Alcinous, 
and they wondered then still more. For the lofty 
palace shone aloft in the sun, with walls of plated 
brass, from the threshold to the innermost chamber, 
and the doors were of silver and gold. And on each 
side of the doorway sat living dogs of gold, who never 
grew old or died, so well Hepliaistus had made them 
in his forges in smoking Lemnos, and gave them to 
Alcinous to guard his gates by night. And within, 
against the walls, stood thrones on either side, down 
the whole length of the hall, strewn with rich glossy 
shawls; and on them the merchant kings of those 
crafty sea-roving Phaeaces sat eating and drinking in 
pride, and feasting there all the year round. And 
boys of molten gold stood each on a polished altar, 
and held torches in their hands, to give light all night 
to the guests. And round the house sat fifty maid- 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


143 


servants, some grinding the meal in the mill, some 
turning the spindle, some weaving at the loom, while 
their hands twinkled as they passed the shuttle, like 
quivering aspen leaves. 

And outside before the palace a great garden was 
Availed round, filled full of stately fruit-trees, with 
olives and sweet figs, and pomegranates, pears, and 
apples, which bore the whole year round. For the 
rich southwest wind fed them, till pear grew ripe on 
pear, fig on fig, and grape on grape, all the winter 
and the spring. And at the further end gay flower- 
beds bloomed through all seasons of the year ; and two 
fair fountains rose, and ran, one through the garden- 
grounds, and one beneath the palace gate, to water all 
the town. Such noble gifts the heavens had given 
to Alcinous the wise. 

So they went in, and saw him sitting, like Poseidon, 
on his throne, with his golden sceptre by him, in gar- 
ments stiff with gold, and in his hand a sculptured 
goblet, as he pledged the merchant kings; and beside 
him stood Arete, his wise and lovely queen, and leaned 
against a pillar, as she spun her golden threads. 

Then Alcinous rose, and welcomed them, and bade 
them sit and eat; and the servants brought them 
tables, and bread, and meat, and wine. 

But Medeia went on trembling toward Arete the 
fair queen, and fell at her knees, and clasped them, 
and cried weeping as she knelt, — 


144 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


“ I am your guest, fair queen, and I entreat you by- 
Zeus, from whom prayers come. Do not send me back 
to my father, to die some dreadful death; but let me 
go my way, and bear my burden. Have I not had 
enough of punishment and shame?” 

“Who are you, strange maiden? and what is the 
meaning of your prayer?” 

“ I am Medeia, daughter of Aietes, and I saw my 
countrymen here to-day; and I know that they are 
come to find me, and take me home to die some 
dreadful death.” 

Then Arete frowned, and said — “ Lead this girl in, 
my maidens; and let the kings decide, not I.” 

And Alcinous leapt up from his throne, and cried, 
“Speak, strangers, who are you? And who is this 
maiden?” 

“We are the heroes of the Minuai,” said Jason; 
“and this maiden has spoken truth. We are the 
men who took the golden fleece, the men whose fame 
has run round every shore. We came hither out of 
the ocean, after sorrow such as man never saw before. 

'■We went out many, and came back few, for many a 
noble comrade have we lost. So let us go, as you 
should let your guests go, in peace ; that the world 
may say, ‘Alcinous is a just king.’ ” 

But Alcinous frowned, and stood deep in thought; 
and at last he spoke — 

“Had not the deed been done which is done, I 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


145 


should have said this day to myself, ‘It is an honor 
to Alcinous, and to his children after him, that the 
far-famed Argonauts are his guests.’ But these 
Colchi are my guests, as you are; and for this month 
they have waited here with all their fleet; for they 
have hunted all the seas of Hellas, and could not 
find you, and dared neither go further, nor go home.” 

“ Let them choose out their champions, and we 
will fight them, man for man.” 

“No guest of ours shall fight upon our island; and 
if you go outside, they will outnumber you. I will 
do justice between you; for I know and do what is 
right.” 

Then he turned to his kings, and said : “ This 

may stand over till to-morrow. To-night we will 
feast our guests, and hear the story of all their wan- 
derings, and how they came hither out of the ocean.” 

So Alcinous bade the servants take the heroes in, 
and bathe them, and give them clothes. And they 
were glad when they saw the warm water, for it was 
long since they had bathed. And they washed off 
the sea-salt from their limbs, and anointed themselves 
from head to foot with oil, and combed out their 
golden hair. Then they came back again into the 
hall, while the merchant-kings rose up to do them 
honor. And each man said to his neighbor : “ No 
wonder that these men won fame. How they stand 
now like Giants, or Titans, or Immortals come down 
10 


146 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


from Olympus, though many a winter has worn them, 
and many a fearful storm. What must they have 
been when they sailed from Iolcos, in the bloom of 
their youth, long ago?” 

The# they went out to the garden ; and the mer- 
chant princes said : “ Heroes, run races with us. 

Let us see whose feet are nimblest.” 

“We cannot race against you, for our limbs are 
stiff from sea ; and we have lost our two swift com- 
rades, the sons of the north wind. But do not think 
us cowards: if you wish to try our strength, we will 
shoot, and bdx, and wrestle, against any men on 
earth.” 

And Alcinous smiled, and answered: “I believe 
you, gallant guests; with your long limbs and broad 
shoulders, we could never match you here. For we 
care nothing here for boxing, or for shooting with 
the bow : but for feasts, and songs, and harping, and 
dancing, and running races, to stretch our limbs on 
shore.” 

So they danced there and ran races, the jolly mer- 
chant kings, till the night fell, and all went in. 

And then they ate and drank, and comforted their 
weary souls, till Alcinous called a herald, and bade 
him go and fetch the harper. 

The herald went out, and fetched the harper, and 
led him in by the hand ; and Alcinous cut him a piece 
of meat from the fattest of the haunch, and sent it 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


147 


to him, and said: “Sing to us, noble harper, and 
rejoice the heroes’ hearts.” 

So the harper played and sang, while the dancers 
danced strange figures ; and after that the tumblers 
showed their tricks, till the heroes laughed again. 

Then, “Tell me, heroes,” asked Alcinous, “you 
who have sailed the ocean round, and seen the man- 
ners of all nations, have you seen such dancers as ours 
here? or heard such music and such singing? We 
hold ours to be the best on earth.” 

“ Such dancing we have never seen,” said Orpheus; 
“ and your singer is a happy man ; for Phoebus him- 
self must have taught him, or else he is the son of a 
Muse; as I am also, and have sung once or twice, 
though not as well as he.” 

“Sing to us, then, noble stranger,” said Alcinous; 
“and we will give you precious gifts.” 

So Orpheus took his magic harp, and sang to them 
a stirring song of their voyage from Iolcos, and their 
dangers, and how they won the golden fleece; and of 
Medeia’s love, and how she helped them, and went 
with them over land and sea; and of all their fearful 
dangers, from monsters, and rocks, and storms, till 
the heart of Arete was softened, and all the women 
wept. And the merchant kings rose up, each man 
from off his golden throne, and clapped their hands, 
and shouted: “Hail to the noble Argonauts, who 
sailed the unknown sea!” 


148 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


Then he went on, and told their journey over the 
sluggish northern main, and through the shoreless 
outer ocean, to the fairy island of the west; and of 
the Sirens, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and all the 
wonders they had seen, till midnight passed, and the 
day dawned ; but the kings never thought of sleep. 
Each man sat still and listened, with his chin upon 
his hand. 

And at last when Orpheus had ended, they all went 
thoughtful out, and the heroes lay down to sleep, be- 
neath the sounding porch outside, where Arete had 
strewn them rugs and carpets, in the sweet still sum- 
mer night. 

But Arete pleaded hard with her husband for 
Medeia, for her heart was softened. And she said : 
“ The Gods will punish her, not we. After all, she is 
our guest and my suppliant, and prayers are the daugh- 
ters of Zeus. And who, too, dare part man and wife, 
after all they have endured together?” 

And Alcinous smiled. “The minstrel’s song has 
charmed you; but I must remember what is right; 
for songs cannot alter justice; and I must be faithful 
to my name. Alcinous I am called, the man of sturdy 
sense, and Alcinous I will be. ” But for all that, Arete 
besought him, until she won him round. 

So next morning he sent a herald, and called the 
kings into the square, and said: “This is a puzzling 
matter; remember but one thing. These Minuai live 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


149 


close by us, and we may meet them often on the seas ; 
but Aietes lives afar olf, and we have only heard his 
name. Which, then, of the two is it safer to offend, 
the men near us, or the men far off?” 

The princes laughed, and praised his wisdom ; and 
Alcinous called the heroes to the square, and the Col- 
chi also; and they came and stood opposite each other: 
but Medeia stayed in the palace. Then Alcinous 
spoke, — “ Heroes of the Colchi, what is your errand 
about this lady?” 

“ To carry her home with us, that she may die a 
shameful death : but if we return without her, we 
must die the death she should have died.” 

“ What say you to this, Jason the H3olid?” said 
Alcinous, turning to the Minuai. 

“I say,” said the cunning Jason, “that they are 
come here on a bootless errand. Do you think that 
you can make her follow you, heroes of the Colchi? 
she, who knows all spells and charms? She will cast 
away your ships on quicksands, or call down on you 
Brimo the wild huntress; or the chains will fall from 
off her wrists, and she will escape in her dragon-car: 
or if not thus, some other way ; for she has a thou- 
sand plans and wiles. And why return home at all, 
brave heroes, and face the long seas again, and the 
Bosphorus, and the stormy Euxine, and double all 
your toil? There is many a fair land round these 
coasts, which waits for gallant men like you. Better 


150 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


to settle there, and build a city, and let Aietes and 
Colchis help themselves. ” 

Then a murmur rose among the Colchi, and some 
cried, “He has spoken well”; and some, “We have 
had enough of roving, we will sail the seas no more!” 
And the chief said at last, “ Be it so, then ; a plague 
she has been to us, and a plague to the house of her 
father, and a plague she will he to you. Take her, 
since you are no wiser; and we will sail away toward 
the north.” 

Then Alcinous gave them food, and water, and gar- 
ments, and rich presents of all sorts; and he gave the 
same to the Minuai, and sent them all away in peace. 

So Jason kept the dark witch-maiden to breed him 
woe and shame, and the Colchi went northward into 
the Adriatic, and settled, and built towns along the 
shore. 

Then the heroes rowed away to the eastward, to 
reach Hellas their beloved land; but a storm came 
down upon them, and swept them far away toward 
the south. And they rowed till they were spent with 
struggling through the darkness and the blinding 
rain, but where they were they could not tell, and 
they gave up all hope of life. And at last they 
touched the ground, and when daylight came they 
waded to the shore; and saw nothing round but sand, 
and desolate salt pools; for they had come to the 
quicksands of the Syrtis, and the dreary treeless flats, 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


151 


which lie between Numidia and Cyrene, on the burn- 
ing shore of Africa. And there they wandered starv- 
ing for many a weary day, ere they could launch their 
ship again, and gain the open sea. And there Can- 
thus was killed while he was trying to drive off sheep, 
by a stone which a herdsman threw. 

And there too Mopsus died, the seer who knew the 
voices of all birds: but he could not foretell his own 
end, for he was bitten in the foot by a snake, one of 
those which sprang from the Gorgon’s head when 
Perseus carried it across the sands. 

At last they rowed away toward the northward, for 
many a weary day, till their water was spent, and their 
food eaten ; and they were worn out with hunger and 
thirst. But at last they saw a long steep island, and 
a blue peak high among the clouds; and they knew 
it for the peak of Ida, and the famous land of Crete. 
And they said, “ We will land in Crete, and see Minos 
the just king, and all his glory and his wealth; at 
least he will treat us hospitably, and let us fill our 
water-casks upon the shore.” 

But when they came nearer to the island they saw 
a wondrous sight upon the cliffs. For on a cape to 
the westward stood a giant, taller than any mountain 
pine ; who glittered aloft against the sky like a tower 
of burnished brass. He turned and looked on all sides 
round him, till he saw the Argo and her crew; and 
when he saw them he came toward them, more swiftly 


152 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


than the swiftest horse, leaping across the glens at a 
bound, and striding at one step from down to 
down. And when he came abreast of them he bran- 
dished his arms up and down, as a ship hoists 
and lowers her yards, and shouted with his brazen 
throat like a trumpet from off the hills — “ You are 
pirates, you are robbers ! If you dare land here, you 
die.” 

Then the heroes cried, “We are no pirates. We 
are all good men and true ; and all we ask is food and 
water:” but the giant cried the more — 

“ You are robbers, you are pirates all; I know you; 
and if you land, you shall die the death.” 

Then he waved his arms again as a signal, and they 
saw the people flying inland, driving their flocks be- 
fore them, while a great flame arose among the hills. 
Then the giant ran up the valley and vanished ; and 
the heroes lay on their oars in fear. 

But Medeia stood watching all, from under her steep 
black brows, with a cunning smile upon her lips, and 
a cunning plot within her heart. At last she spoke : 
“ I know this giant. I heard of him in the East. 
Hephaistos the Fire King made him, in his forge in 
iEtna beneath the earth, and called him Talos, and 
gave him to Minos for a servant, to guard the coast 
of Crete. Thrice a day he walks round the island, 
and never stops to sleep ; and if strangers land he leaps 
into his furnace, which flames there among the hills; 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


153 


and when he is red-hot he rushes on them, and burns 
them in his brazen hands.” 

Then all the heroes cried, “ What shall we do, wise 
Medeia? We must have water, or we die of thirst. 
Flesh and blood we can face fairly; but who can face 
this red-hot brass?” 

“ I can face red-hot brass, if the tale I hear be true. 
For they say he has but one vein in all his body, 
filled with liquid fire; and that this vein is closed with 
a nail ; but I know not where that nail is placed. 
But if I can get it once into these hands, you shall 
water your ship here in peace.” 

Then she bade them put her on shore, and row off 
again, and wait what would befall. And the heroes 
obeyed her unwillingly ; for they were ashamed to leave 
her so alone; but Jason said, “She is dearer to me 
than to any of you, yet I will trust her freely on shore; 
she has more plots than we can dream of, in the wind- 
ings of that fair and cunning head.” 

So they left the witch-maiden on the shore ; and she 
stood there in her beauty all alone, till the giant 
strode back red-hot from head to heel, while the grass 
hissed and smoked beneath his tread. 

And when he saw the maiden alone, he stopped; 
and she looked boldly up into his face without mov- 
ing, and began her magic song: — 

“Life is short, though life is sweet; and even men 
of brass and fire must die. The brass must rust, the 


154 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


fire must cool, for time gnaws all things in their turn. 
Life is short, though life is sweet; but sweeter to live 
forever; sweeter to live ever youthful like the Gods, 
who have ichor in their veins; ichor which gives life, 
and youth, and joy, and a bounding heart.” 

Then Talus said, “Who are you, strange maiden; 
and where is this ichor of youth?” 

Then Medeia held up a flask of crystal, and said, 
“ Here is the ichor of youth. I am Medeia the en- 
chantress; my sister Circe gave me this, and said, 
‘Go and reward Talus the faithful servant, for his fame 
is gone out into all lands. ’ So come, and I will pour 
this into your veins, that you may live forever young.” 

And he listened to her false words, that simple 
Talus, and came near; and Medeia said, “Dip your- 
self in the sea first, and cool yourself, lest you burn 
my tender hands; then show me where the nail in 
your vein is, that I may pour the ichor in.” 

Then that simple Talus dipped himself in the sea, 
till it hissed, and roared, and smoked; and came and 
knelt before Medeia, and showed her the secret nail. 

And she drew the nail out gently; but she poured 
no ichor in; and instead the liquid fire spouted forth, 
like a stream of red-hot iron. And Talus tried to 
leap up, crying, “ You have betrayed me, false witch- 
maiden!” But she lifted up her hands before him, 
and sang, till he sank beneath her spell. And as he 
sank, his brazen limbs clanked heavily, and the earth 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


155 


groaned beneath his weight; and the liquid fire ran 
from his heel, like a stream of lava to the sea ; and 
Medeia laughed, and called to the heroes, “Codie 
ashore, and water your ship in peace;” 

So they came, and found the giant lying dead ; and 
they fell down, and kissed Medeia’s feet; and watered 
their ship, and took sheep and oxen, and so left that 
inhospitable shore. 

At last, after many more adventures, they came to 
the Cape of Malea, at the southwest point of the Pelo- 
ponnese. And there they offered sacrifices, and Or- 
pheus purged them from their guilt. Then they 
rowed away again to the northward, past the Laconian 
shore, and came all worn and tired by Sunium, and 
up the long Eubcean Strait, until they saw once more 
Pelion, and Aphetai, and Iolcos by the sea. 

And they ran the ship ashore ; but they had no 
strength left to haul her up the beach; and they 
crawled out on the pebbles, and sat down, and wept 
till they could weep no more. For the houses and 
the trees were all altered ; and all the faces which they 
saw were strange, and their joy was swallowed up in 
sorrow, while they thought of their youth, and all 
their labor, and the gallant comrades they had lost. 

And the people crowded round, and asked them, 
“Who are you, that you sit weeping here?” 

“We are the sons of your princes, who sailed out 
many a year ago. We went to fetch the golden fleece; 


ICO 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


and we have brought it, and grief therewith. Give 
us news of our fathers and our mothers, if any of them 
be left alive on earth.” 

Then there was shouting, and laughing, and weep- 
ing; and all the kings came to the shore, and they 
led away the heroes to their homes, and bewailed 
the valiant dead. 

Then Jason went up with Medeia to the palace of 
his uncle Pelias. And when he came in, Pelias sat 
by the hearth, crippled and blind with age; while op- 
posite him sat ^®son, Jason’s father, crippled and 
blind likewise; and the two old men’s heads shook to- 
gether, as they tried to warm themselves before the fire. 

And Jason fell down at his father’s knees, and 
wept, and called him by his name. And the old man 
stretched his hands out, and felt him, and said, “ Do 
not mock me, young hero. My son Jason is dead 
long ago at sea.” 

“ I am your own son Jason, whom you trusted to 
the Centaur upon Pelion; and I have brought home 
the golden fleece, and a princess of the Sun’s race for 
my bride. So now give me up the kingdom, Pelias, 
my uncle, and fulfil your promise as I have fulfilled 
mine.” 

Then his father clung to him like a child, and wept, 
and would not let him go; and cried, “Now I shall 
not go down lonely to my grave. Promise me never 
to leave me till I die.” 


PART VI. 

WHAT WAS THE END OF THE HEROES? 

And now I wish that I could end my story pleas- 
antly; but it is no fault of mine that I cannot. The 
old songs end it sadly, and I believe that they are 
right and wise; for though the heroes were purified 
at Malea, yet sacrifices cannot make bad hearts good, 
and Jason had taken a wicked wife, and he had to 
bear his burden to the last. 

And first she laid a cunning plot, to punish that 
poor old Pelias, instead of letting him die in peace. 
For she told his daughters, “ I can make old things 
young again; I will show you how easy it is to do.” 
So she took an old ram and killed him, and put him 
in a cauldron with magic herbs; and whispered her 
spells over him, and he leapt out again a young lamb. 
So that “Medeia’s cauldron” is a proverb still, by 
which we mean times of war and change, when the 
world has become old and feeble, and grows young 
again through bitter pains. 

Then she said to Pelias’ daughters, “ Do to your 
father as I did to this ram, and he will grow young 


158 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


and strong again.” But she only told them half the 
spell; so they failed, while Medeia mocked them; and 
poor old Pelias died, and his daughters came to mis- 
ery. But the songs say she cured HSson, Jason’s father, 
and he became young and strong again. 

But Jason could not love her, after all her cruel 
deeds. So he was ungrateful to her, and wronged 
her, and she revenged herself on him. And a terrible 
revenge she took — too terrible to speak of here. But 
you will hear of it yourselves when you grow up, for 
it has been sung in noble poetry and music; and 
whether it be true or not, it stands forever as a warn- 
ing to us, not to seek for help from evil persons, or 
to gain good ends by evil means. For if we use an 
adder even against our enemies, it will turn again 
and sting us. 

But of all the other heroes there is many a brave 
tale left, which I have no space to tell you, so you 
must read them for yourselves; — of the hunting of 
the boar in Calydon, which Meleager killed; and of 
Heracles’ twelve famous labors; and of the seven 
who fought at Thebes, and of the noble love of Castor 
and Polydeuces, the twin Dioscouroi; how when 
one died, the other would not live without him, so 
they shared their immortality between them; and 
Zeus changed them into the two twin stars, which 
never rise both at once. 

And what became of Cheiron, the good immortal 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


159 


beast? That too is a sad story; for the heroes never 
saw him more. He was wounded by a poisoned arrow, 
at Pholoe among the hills, when Heracles opened the 
fatal wine-jar, which Cheiron had warned him not to 
touch. And the Centaurs smelt the wine, and flocked 
to it, and fought for it with Heracles: but he killed 
them all with his poisoned arrows, and Cheiron was 
left alone. Then Cheiron took up one of the arrows, 
and dropped it by chance upon his foot; and the poi- 
son ran like fire along his veins, and he lay down and 
longed to die; and cried, “Through wine I perish, 
the bane of all my race. Why should I live forever 
in this agony? Who will take my immortality that I 
may die?” 

Then Prometheus answered, the good Titan, whom 
Heracles had set free from Caucasus, “ I will take your 
immortality and live forever, that I may help poor 
mortal men.” So Cheiron gave him his immortality, 
and died, and had rest from pain. And Heracles and 
Prometheus wept over him, and went to bury him on 
Pelion : but Zeus took him up among the stars, to live 
forever, grand and mild, low down in the far southern 
sky. 

And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor, the 
silver-tongued old man; and left behind them valiant 
sons, but not so great as they had been. Yet their 
fame, too, lives till this day; for they fought at the 
ten years’ siege of Troy; and their story is in the book 


THE ARGONAUTS. 


1G0 

which we call Homer, in two of the noblest songs on 
earth : the Iliad, which tells of the siege of Troy, and 
Achilles’ quarrel with the kings; and the Odyssey, 
which tells the wanderings of Odysseus through many 
lands for many years; and how Alcinous sent him 
home at last, safe to Ithaca his beloved island, and to 
Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his son, 
and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old dog 
who licked his hand and died. We will read that 
sweet story, children, by the lire some winter night. 
And now I will end my tale, and begin another and 
more cheerful one, of a hero who became a worthy 
king, and won his people’s love. 


THESEUS 


PAKT I. 

HOW THESEUS LIFTED THE STONE. 

Once upon a time there was a princess in Troezene, 
Aithra, the daughter of Pittheus the king. She had 
one fair son, named Theseus, the bravest lad in all 
the land ; and Aithra never smiled but when she looked 
at him, for her husband had forgotten her, and lived 
far away. And she used to go up to the mountain 
above Troezene, to the temple of Poseidon, and sit 
there all day looking out across the bay, over Methana, 
to the purple peaks of ^Egina, and the Attic shore be- 
yond. And when Theseus was full fifteen years old, 
she took him up with her to the temple, and into the 
thickest of the grove which grew in the temple-yard. 
And she led him to a tall plane-tree, beneath whose 
shade grew arbutus, and lentisk, and purple heather 
bushes. And there she sighed and said, “ Theseus, 
my son, go into that thicket, and you will find at the 
11 


162 


THESEUS. 


plane-tree foot a great flat stone ; lift it, and bring 
me what lies underneath.” 

Then Theseus pushed his way in through the thick 
bushes, and saw that they had not been moved for 
many a year. And searching among their roots he 
found a great flat stone, all overgrown with ivy, and 
acanthus, and moss. He tried to lift it, but he could 
not. And he tried till the sweat ran down his brow 
from heat, and the tears from his eyes for shame: but 
all was of no avail. And at last he came back to his 
mother, and said, “ I have found the stone but I can- 
not lift it; nor do I think that any man could in all 
Trcezene.” 

Then she sighed and said, “The Gods wait long; 
but they are just at last. Let it be for another year. 
The day may come when you will be a stronger man 
than lives in all Troezene.” 

Then she took him by the hand and went into the 
temple and prayed and came down again with Theseus 
to her home. 

And when a full year was past she led Theseus up 
again to the temple and bade him lift the stone: but 
he could not. 

Then she sighed and said the same words again and 
went down, and came again the next year; but 
Theseus could not lift the stone then nor the 
year after; and he longed to ask his mother the 
meaning of that stone and what might lie under- 


THESEUS. 


163 


neath it ; but her face was so sad that he had not 
the heart to ask. 

So he said to himself, “ The day shall surely come 
when I will lift that stone, though no man in Troezene 
can.” And in order to grow strong he spent all his 
days in wrestling, and boxing, and hurling, and tam- 
ing horses, and hunting the boar and the bull, and 
coursing goats and deer among the rocks; till upon 
all the mountains there was no hunter so swift as 
Theseus, and he killed Phaia, the wild sow of Crom- 
muon, which wasted all the land ; till all the people 
said, “Surely the Gods are with the lad.” 

And when his eighteenth year was past, Aithra 
led him up again to the temple, and said, “Theseus, 
lift the stone this day; or never know who you are.” 
And Theseus went into the thicket, and stood over the 
stone, and tugged at it; and it moved. Then his 
spirit swelled within him, and he said, “ If I break 
my heart in my body, it shall up.” And he tugged 
at it once more, and lifted it, and rolled it over, with 
a shout. 

And when he looked beneath it, on the ground lay 
a sword of bronze, with a hilt of glittering gold, and 
by it a pair of golden sandals; and he caught them 
up, and burst through the bushes like a wild boar, 
and leapt to his mother, holding them high above his 
head. 

But when she saw them she wept long in silence, 


164 


THESEUS. 


hiding her fair face in her shawl ; and Theseus stood by 
her wondering, and wept also, he knew not why. And 
when she was tired of weeping, she lifted up her head, 
and laid her finger on her lips, and said, “ Hide them 
in your bosom, Theseus, my son, and come with me 
where we can look down upon the sea.” 

Then they went outside the sacred wall, and looked 
down over the bright blue sea, and Aithra said, — 

“ Do you see this land at our feet?” 

And he said, “ Yes, this is Troezene, where I was 
born and bred.” 

And she said, “It is but a little land, barren and 
rocky, and looks toward the bleak northeast. Do you 
see that land beyond?” 

“Yes, that is Attica, where the Athenian people 
dwell.” 

“ That is a fair land and large, Theseus, my son ; 
and it looks toward the sunny south ; a land of olive- 
oil and honey, the joy of Gods and men. For the 
Gods have girdled it with mountains, whose veins are 
of pure silver, and their bones of marble as white as 
snow ; and there the hills are sweet with thyme and 
basil, and the meadows with violet and asphodel, and 
the nightingales sing all day in the thickets, by the 
side of ever-flowing streams. There are twelve towns 
well peopled, the homes of an ancient race, the chil- 
dren of Kekrops the serpent-king, the son of Mother 
Earth, who wear gold cicalas among the tresses of their 


THESEUS. 


165 


golden hair; for like the cicalas they sprang from 
the earth, and like the cicalas they sing all day, re- 
joicing in the genial sun. What would you do, son 
Theseus, if you were king of such a land.?” 

Then Theseus stood astonished, as he looked across 
the broad bright sea, and saw the fair Attic shore, 
from Sunium to Hymettus and Pentelicus, and all the 
mountain peaks which girdle Athens round. But 
Athens itself he could not see, for purple ^Egina stood 
before it, midway across the sea. 

Then his heart grew great within him and he said, 
“ If I were king of such a land, I would rule it wisely 
and well in wisdom and in might, that when I died 
all men might weep over my tomb, and cry, ‘Alas for 
the shepherd of his people!’ ” 

And Aithra smiled, and said, “ Take, then, the sword 
and sandals, and go to ^Egeus, king of Athens, who 
lives on Pallas’ hill ; and say to him, ‘ The stone is 
lifted, but whose is the pledge beneath it?’ Then 
show him the sword and the sandals, and take what 
the Gods shall send." 

But Theseus wept — “Shall I leave you, 0 my 
mother?” 

But she answered, “ Weep not for me. That which 
is fated must be ; and grief is easy to those who do 
naught but grieve. Full of sorrow was my youth, 
and full of sorrow my womanhood. Full of sorrow 
was my youth for Bellerophon the slayer of the Chi- 


166 


THESEUS. 


maera, whom my father drove away by treason ; and 
full of sorrow my womanhood, for thy treacherous 
father and for thee; and full of sorrow my old age will 
be (for I see my fate in dreams), when the sons of the 
swan shall carry me captive to the hollow vale of 
Eurotas, till I sail across the seas a slave, the hand- 
maid of the pest of Greece. Yet shall I be avenged 
when the golden-haired heroes sail against Troy, and 
sack the palaces of Ilium; then my son shall set me 
free from thraldom, and I shall hear the tale of The- 
seus’ fame. Yet beyond that I see new sorrows; but 
I can bear them as I have borne the past.” 

Then she kissed Theseus, and wept over him ; and 
went into the temple, and Theseus saw her no more. 


PART II. 

HOW THESE tJS SLEW THE DEVOURERS OF MEN - . 

So Theseus stood there alone, with his mind full of 
many hopes. And first, he thought of going down 
to the harbor and hiring a swift ship, and sailing 
across the bay to Athens ; but even that seemed too 
slow for him, and he longed for wings to fly across the 
sea, and find his father. But after a while his heart 
began to fail him; and he sighed, and said within 
himself — 

“ What if my father have other sons about him, 
whom he loves? What if he will not receive me? And 
what have I done that he should receive me? He 
has forgotten me ever since I was born : why should 
he welcome me now?” 

Then he thought a long while sadly ; and at last he 
cried aloud, “Yes! I will make him love me; for I 
will prove myself worthy of his love. I will win honor 
and renown, and do such deeds that HSgeus shall be 
proud of me, though he had fifty other sons! Did not 
Heracles win himself honor though he was opprest, 
and the slave of Eurystheus? Did he not kill all rob- 


168 


THESEUS. 


bers and evil beasts, and drain great lakes and marshes, 
breaking the hills through with his club? Therefore 
it was that all men honored him, because he rid them 
of their miseries, and made life pleasant to them and 
their children after them. Where can I go, to do as 
Heracles has done? Where can I find strange adven- 
tures, robbers, and monsters, and the children of hell, 
the enemies of men? I will go by the land, and into 
the mountains, and round by the way of the Isthmus. 
Perhaps there I may hear of brave adventures, and 
do something which shall win my father’s love.” 

So he went by land, and away into the mountains, 
with his father’s sword upon his thigh, till he came to 
the Spider mountains, which hang over Epidaurus 
and the sea, where the glens run downward from one 
peak in the midst, as the rays spread in a spider’s web. 

And he went up into the gloomy glens, between the 
furrowed marble walls, till the lowland grew blue be- 
neath his feet, and the clouds drove damp about his 
head. 

But he went up and up forever, through the spider’s 
web of glens, till he could see the narrow gulfs spread 
below him, north and south, and east and west; black 
cracks half-choked with mists, and above all a dreary 
down. 

But over that down he must go, for there was no 
road right or left; so he toiled on through bog and 
brake, till he came to a pile of stones. 


THESEUS. 


169 


And on the stones a man was sitting, wrapt in a 
bearskin cloak. The head of the bear served him for a 
cap, and its teeth grinned white around his brows ; and 
the feet were tied about his throat, and their claws 
shone white upon his chest. And when he saw 
Theseus he rose, and laughed till the glen rattled. 

“ And who art thou, fair fly, who hast walked into 
the spider’s web?” But Theseus walked on steadily, 
and made no answer: but he thought, “Is this some 
robber? and has an adventure come already to me?” 
But the strange man laughed louder than ever, and 
said, — 

“ Bold fly, know you not that these glens are the 
web from which no fly ever finds his way out again, 
and this down the spider’s house, and I the spider 
who suck the flies? Come hither, and let me feast 
upon you; for it is of no use to run away; so cun- 
/ ning a web has my father Hephaistos spread for me, 
when he made these clefts in the mountains, through 
which no man finds his way home.” 

But Theseus came on steadily, and asked, — 

“And what is your name among men, bold spider? 
and where are your spider’s fangs?” 

Then the strange man laughed again, — 

“My name is Periphetos, the son of Hephaistos 
and Anticleia the mountain nymph. But men call 
me Corynetes the club-bearer; and here is my spider’s 
fang.” 


170 


THESEUS. 


And he lifted from off the stones at his side a 
mighty club of bronze. 

“ This my father gave me, and forged it himself in 
the roots of the mountain ; and with it I pound all 
proud flies till they give out their fatness and their 
sweetness. So give me up that gay sword of yours, 
and your mantle, and your golden sandals, lest I 
pound you, and by ill luck you die.” 

But Theseus wrapt his mantle round his left arm 
quickly, in hard folds, from his shoulder to his hand, 
and drew his sword, and rushed upon the club-bearer, 
and the club-bearer rushed on him. 

Thrice he struck at Theseus, and made him bend 
under the blows like a sapling; but Theseus guarded 
his head with his left arm, and the mantle which 
was wrapped around it. 

And thrice Theseus sprang upright after the blow, 
like a sapling when the storm is past; and he stabbed 
at the club-bearer with his sword, but the loose folds 
of the bearskin saved him. 

Then Theseus grew mad, and closed with him, 
and caught him by the throat, and they fell 
and rolled over together: but when Theseus rose 
up from the ground, the club-bearer lay still at his 
foet. 

Then Theseus took his club and his bearskin, and 
left him to the kites and crows, and went upon his 
journey down the glens on the further slope, till he 


THESEUS. 


171 


came to a broad green valley, and saw flocks and 
herds sleeping beneath the trees. 

And by the side of a pleasant fountain, under the 
shade of rocks and trees, were nymphs and shepherds 
dancing; but no one piped to them while they 
danced. 

And when they saw Theseus they shrieked; and 
the shepherds ran off, and drove away their flocks; 
while the nymphs dived into the fountain like coots, 
and vanished. 

Theseus wondered and laughed : “ What strange 

fancies have folks here who run away from strangers, 
and have no music when they dance!” But he was 
tired, and dusty, and thirsty; so he thought no more 
of them, but drank and bathed in the clear pool, and 
then lay down in the shade under a plane-tree, while 
the water sang him to sleep, as it tinkled down from 
stone to stone. 

And when he woke he heard a whispering, and saw 
the nymphs peeping at him across the fountain from 
the dark mouth of a cave, where they sat on green 
cushions of moss. And one said, “Surely he is not 
Periphetes;” and another, “ He looks like no robber, 
but a fair and gentle youth.” 

Then Theseus smiled, and called them, “Fair 
nymphs, I am not Periphetes. He sleeps among the 
kites and crows: but I have brought away his bear- 
skin and his club.” 


172 


THESEUS. 


Then they leapt across the pool, and came to him, 
and called the shepherds back. And he told them 
how he had slain the club-bearer : and the shepherds 
kissed his feet, and sang, “Now we shall feed our 
flocks in peace, and not be afraid to have music when 
we dance; for the cruel club-bearer has met his 
match, and he will listen for our pipes no more.” 

Then they brought him kid’s flesh and wine, and 
the nymphs brought him honey from the rocks; and 
he ate, and drank, and slept again, while the nymphs 
and shepherds danced and sang. And when he woke, 
they begged him to stay; but he would not. “I 
have a great work to do,” he said; “ I must be away 
toward the Isthmus, that I may go to Athens.” 

But the shepherds said, “ Will you go alone toward 
Athens? None travel that way now, except in armed 
troops.” 

“As for arms, I have enough, as you see. And as 
for troops, an honest man is good enough company 
for himself. Why should I not go alone toward 
Athens?” 

“ If you do, you must look warily about you on the 
Isthmus, lest you meet Sinis the robber, whom men 
call Pituocamptes the pine-bender; for he bends down 
two pine-trees, and binds all travellers hand and foot 
between them ; and when he lets the trees go again, 
their bodies are torn in sunder.” 

“And after that,” said another, “you must go in- 


THESEUS. 


173 


land, and not dare to pass over the cliffs of Sciron; 
for on the left hand are the mountains, and on the 
right the sea, so that you have no escape, but must 
needs meet Sciron the robber, who will make you 
wash his feet; and while you are washing them he 
will kick you over the cliff, to the tortoise who lives 
below, and feeds upon the bodies of the dead.” 

And before Theseus could answer, another cried, 
“ And after that is a worse danger still, unless you 
go inland always, and leave Eleusis far on your right. 
For in Eleusis rules Kerkuon the cruel king, the ter- 
ror of all mortals, who killed his own daughter Alope 
in prison. But she was changed into a fair foun- 
tain; and her child he cast out upon the mountains; 
but the wild mares gave it milk. And now he chal- 
lenges all comers to wrestle with him ; for he is the 
best wrestler in all Attica, and overthrows all who 
come: and those whom he overthrows he murders 
miserably, and his palace-court is full of their bones.” 

Then Theseus frowned, and said, “This seems in- 
deed an ill-ruled land, and adventures enough in it 
to be tried. But if I am the heir of it, I will rule it 
and right it, and here is my royal sceptre.” And he 
shook his club of bronze, while the nymphs and shep- 
herds clung round him, and entreated him not to go. 

But on he went, nevertheless, till he could see both 
the seas, and the citadel of Corinth towering high 
above all the land. And he past swiftly along the 


174 


THESEUS. 


Isthmus, for his heart burned to meet that cruel 
Sinis; and in a pinewood at last he met him, where 
the Isthmus was narrowest and the road ran between 
high rocks. There he sat upon a stone by the way- 
side, with a young fir-tree for a club across his knees, 
and a cord laid ready by his side; and over his head, 
upon the fir-tops, hung the bones of murdered men. 

Then Theseus shouted to him, “Holla, thou val- 
iant pine-bender, hast thou two fir-trees left for me?” 

And Sinis leapt to his feet, and answered, pointing 
to the bones above his head, “ My larder has grown 
empty lately, so I have two fir-trees ready for thee.” 
And he rushed on Theseus, lifting his club, and 
Theseus rushed upon him. 

Then they hammered together till the greenwoods 
rang: but the metal was tougher than the pine; and 
Sinis’s club broke right across, as the bronze came 
down upon it. Then Theseus heaved up another 
mighty stroke, and smote Sinis down upon his face; 
and knelt upon his back, and bound him with his 
own cord, and said, “As thou hast done to others, so 
shall it be done to thee.” Then he bent down two 
young fir-trees, and bound Sinis between them, for 
all his struggling and his prayers; and let them go, 
and ended Sinis, and went on, leaving him to the 
hawks and crows. 

Then he went over the hills toward Megara, keep- 
ing close along the Saronic Sea, till he came to the 


THESEUS. 


175 


cliffs of Sciron, and the narrow path between the 
monntain and the sea. 

And there he saw Sciron sitting by a fountain, at 
the edge of the cliff. On his knees was a mighty 
club; and he had barred the path with stones, so that 
every one must stop who came up. 

Then Theseus shouted to him, and said, “Holla, 
thou tortoise-feeder, do thy feet need washing to-day?” 

And Sciron leapt to his feet and answered — 

“My tortoise is empty and hungry, and my feet 
need washing to-day.” And he stood before his bar- 
rier, and lifted up his club in both hands. 

Then Theseus rushed upon him ; and sore was the 
battle upon the cliff; for when Sciron felt the weight 
of the bronze club, he dropped his own, and closed 
with Theseus, and tried to hurl him by main force 
over the cliff. But Theseus was a wary wrestler, and 
dropped his own club, and caught him by the throat 
and by the knee, and forced him back against the 
wall of stones, and crushed him up against them, till 
his breath was almost gone. And Sciron cried pant- 
ing, “ Loose me, and I will let thee pass.” But 
Theseus answered, “ I must not pass till I have made 
the rough way smooth;” and he forced him back 
against the wall till it fell, and Sciron rolled head 
over heels. 

Then Theseus lifted him up all bruised, and said, 
“ Come hither and wash my feet. ” And he drew his 


176 


THESEUS. 


sword, and sat down by the well, and said, “Wash 
my feet, or I cut you piecemeal.” 

And Sciron washed his feet trembling ; and when 
it was done, Theseus rose and cried, “ As thou hast 
done to others, so shall it he done to thee. Go feed 
thy tortoise thyself;” and he kicked him over the 
cliff into the sea. 

And whether the tortoise ate him, I know not; for 
some say that earth and sea both disdained to take 
his body, so foul it was with sin. So the sea cast it 
out upon the shore, and the shore cast it back into 
the sea, and at last the waves hurled it high into the 
air in anger; and it hung there long without a grave, 
till it was changed into a desolate rock, which stands 
there in the surge until this day. 

This at least is true, which Pausanias tells, that in 
the royal port at Athens he saw the figure of Theseus 
modelled in clay, and by him Sciron the robber, fall- 
ing headlong into the sea. 

Then he went a long day’s journey, past Megara, 
into the Attic land, and high before him rose the 
snow-peaks of Cithaeron, all cold above the black 
pine-woods, where haunt the Furies, and the raving 
Bacchse, and the nymphs who drive men wild, far 
aloft upon the dreary mountains, where the storms 
howl all day long. And on his right hand was the 
sea always, and Salamis, with its island cliffs, and 
the sacred strait of the sea-fight, where afterwards the 


THESEUS. 


177 


Persians fled before the Greeks. So he went all day 
until the evening, till he saw the Thriasian plain, 
and the sacred city of Eleusis, where the Earth - 
mother’s Temple stands. For there she met Triptol- 
emus, where all the land lay waste, Demeter the kind 
Earth-mother, and in her hands a sheaf of corn. 
And she taught him to plough the fallows, and to 
yoke the lazy kine; and she taught him to sow the 
seed-fields, and to reap the golden grain; and sent 
him forth to teach all nations; and give corn to 
laboring men. So at Eleusis all men honor her, 
whosoever tills the land; her and Triptolemus her 
beloved, who gave corn to laboring men. 

And he went along the plain into Eleusis, and stood 
in the market-place, and cried, — 

“Where is Kerkuon the king of the city? I must 
wrestle a fall with him to-day.” 

Then all the people crowded round him, and cried, 
“Fair youth, why will you die? Hasten out of the 
city, before the cruel king hears that a stranger is 
here.” 

But Theseus went up through the town, while the 
people wept and prayed, and through the gates of the 
palace yard, and through the piles of bones and 
skulls, till he came to the door of Kerkuon ’s hall, 
the terror of all mortal men. 

And there he saw Kerkuon sitting at the table in 
the hall alone; and before him was a whole sheep 
12 


178 


THESEUS. 


roasted, and beside him a whole jar of wine. And 
Theseus stood and called him, “Holla, thou valiant 
wrestler, wilt thou wrestle a fall to-day?" 

And Kerkuon looked up and laughed, and an- 
swered, “ I will wrestle a fall to-day;, but come in, for 
I am lonely and thou weary, and eat and drink before 
thou die." 

Then Theseus went up boldly, and sat down before 
Kerkuon at the board; and he ate his fill of the 
sheep’s flesh, and drank his fill of the wine; and 
Theseus ate enough for three men, but Kerkuon ate 
enough for seven. 

But neither spoke a word to the other, though they 
looked across the table by stealth ; and each said in 
his heart, “ He has broad shoulders ; but I trust mine 
are as broad as his." 

At last, when the sheep was eaten, and the jar of 
wine drained dry, King Kerkuon rose, and cried, 
“ Let us wrestle a fall before we sleep." 

So they tossed off all their garments, and went 
forth into the palace-yard ; and Kerkuon bade strew 
fresh sand in an open space between the bones. And 
there the heroes stood face to face, while their eyes 
glared like wild bulls’ ; and all the people crowded at 
the gates, to see what would befall. 

And there they stood and wrestled, till the stars 
shone out above their heads; up and down and round, 
till the sand was stamped hard beneath their feet. 


THESEUS. 


179 


And their eyes flashed like stars in the darkness, and 
their breath went up like smoke in the night air; but 
neither took nor gave a footstep, and the people 
watched silent at the gates. 

But at last Kerkuon grew angry, and caught 
Theseus round the neck, and shook him as a mastiff, 
shakes a rat; but he could not shake him off his feet. 

But Theseus was quick and wary, and clasped Ker- 
kuon round the waist, and slipped his loin quickly 
underneath him, ‘while he caught him by the wrist; 
and then he hove a mighty heave, a heave which 
would have stirred an oak, and lifted Kerkuon, and 
pitched him right over his shoulder on the ground. 

Then he leapt on him, and called, “Yield, or I 
kill thee!” but Kerkuon said no word; for his heart 
was burst within him, with the fall, and the meat, 
and the wine. 

Then Theseus opened the gates, and called in all 
the people; and they cried, “You have slain our evil 
king; be you now our king, and rule us well.” 

“I will be your king in Eleusis, and I will rule 
you right and well : for this cause I have slain all 
evil-doers, Sinis, and Sciron, and this man last of 
all.” 

Then an aged man stepped forth, and said, “Young 
hero, hast thou slain Sinis? Beware then of iEgeus, 
king of Athens, to whom thou goest, for he is near 
of kin to Sinis.” 


180 


THESEUS. 


“Then I have slain my own kinsman,” said The- 
seus, “ though well he deserved to die. Who will 
purge me from his death, for rightfully I slew him, 
unrighteous and accursed as he was?” 

And the old man answered, — 

“That will the heroes do, the sons of Phytalus, 
who dwell beneath the elm-tree in Aphidnai, by the 
bank of silver Cephisus; for they know the mysteries 
of the Gods. Thither you shall go and be purified, 
and after you shall be our king.” 

So he took an oath of the people of Eleusis, that 
they would serve him as their king, and went away 
next morning across the Thriasian plain, and over 
the hills toward Aphidnai, that he might find the 
sons of Phytalus. 

And as he was skirting the Yale of Cephisus, along 
the foot of lofty Parnes, a very tall and strong man 
came down to meet him, dressed in rich garments. 
On his arms were golden bracelets, and round his 
neck a collar of jewels; and he came forward, bowing 
courteously, and held out both his hands, and 
spoke, — 

“Welcome, fair youth, to these mountains; happy 
am I to have met you ! For what greater pleasure to 
a good man than to entertain strangers? But I see 
that you are weary. Come up to my castle, and rest 
yourself a while.” 

“I give you thanks,” said Theseus; “but I am in 


THESEUS. 


181 


haste to go up the valley, and to reach Aphidnai in 
the Vale of Cephisus.” 

“Alas! you have wandered far from the right way, 
and you cannot reach Aphidnai to-night; for there 
are many miles of mountain between you and it, and 
steep passes, and cliffs dangerous after nightfall. 
It is well for you that I met you; for my whole joy 
is to find strangers, and to feast them at my castle, 
and hear tales from them of foreign lands. Come up 
with me, and eat the best of venison, and drink the 
rich red wine; and sleep upon my famous bed, of 
which all travellers say that they never saw the like. 
For whatsoever the stature of my guest, however tall 
or short, that bed fits him to a hair, and he sleeps on 
it as he never slept before.” And he laid hold on 
Theseus’ hands, and would not let him go. 

Theseus wished to go forward : but he was ashamed 
to seem churlish to so hospitable a man; and he was 
curious to see that wondrous bed; and besides, he was 
hungry and weary: yet he shrank from the man, he 
knew not why : for though his voice was gentle and 
fawning, it was dry and husky like a toad’s; and 
though his eyes were gentle, they were dull and cold 
like stones. But he consented, and went with the 
man up a glen which led from the road toward the 
peaks of Parnes, under the dark shadow of the cliffs. 

And as they went up, the glen grew narrower, and 
the cliffs higher and darker, and beneath them a tor- 


182 


THESEUS. 


rent roared, half-seen between bare limestone crags. 
And around them was neither tree nor bush, while 
from the white peaks of Parnes the snow-blasts swept 
down the glen, cutting and chilling, till a horror fell 
on Theseus, as he looked round at that doleful place. 
And he asked at last, “ Your castle stands, it seems, 
in a dreary region. ” 

“Yes, but once within it, hospitality makes all* 
things cheerful. But who are these?” and he looked 
back, and Theseus also; and far below, along the road 
which they had left, came a string of laden asses, 
and merchants walking by them, watching their 
ware. 

“Ah, poor souls!” said the stranger. “Well for 
them that I looked back and saw them ! And well 
for me too, for I shall have the more guests at my 
feast. Wait a while till I go down and call them, and 
we will eat and drink together the livelong night. 
Happy am I, to whom Heaven sends so many guests 
at once!” 

And he ran back down the hill, waving his hand 
and shouting to the merchants, while Theseus went 
slowly up the steep pass. 

But as he went up he met an aged man, who had 
been gathering drift-wood in the torrent-bed. He 
had laid down his fagot in the road, and was trying 
to lift it again to his shoulder. And when he saw 
Theseus, he called to him, and said, — 


THESEUS. 


183 


“0 fair youth, help me up with my burden; for 
my limbs are stiff and weak with years." 

Then Theseus lifted the burden on his back. And 
the old man blest him, and then looked earnestly 
upon him, and said, — 

“Who are you, fair youth, and wherefore travel 
you this doleful road?" 

“ Who I am my parents know : but I travel this 
doleful road because I have been invited by a hospit- 
able man, who promises to feast me, and to make me 
sleep upon I know not what wondrous bed." 

Then the old man clapped his hands together, and 
cried, — 

“0 house of Hades, man-devouring; will thy maw 
never be full? Know, fair youth, that you are going 
to torment and to death ; for he who met you (I will 
requite your kindness by another) is a robber and a 
murderer of men. Whatsoever stranger he meets he 
entices him hither to death; and as for this bed of 
which he speaks, truly it fits all .comers, yet none 
ever rose alive off it save me." 

“Why?" asked Theseus, astonished. 

“ Because, if a man be too tall for it, he lops his 
limbs till they be short enough, and if he be too 
short, he stretches his limbs till they be long enough: 
but me only he spared, seven weary years agone; for 
I alone of all fitted his bed exactly, so he spared me, 
and made me his slave. And once I was a wealthy 


184 


THESEUS. 


merchant, and dwelt in brazen-gated Thebes; but 
now I hew wood and draw water for him, the torment 
of all mortal men.” 

Then Theseus said nothing; but he ground his 
teeth together. 

“ Escape then,” said the old man, “ for he will have 
no pity on thy youth. But yesterday he brought up 
hither a young man and a maiden, and fitted them 
upon his bed : and the young man’s hands and feet 
he cut off; but the maiden’s limbs he stretched 
until she died, and so both perished miserably — 
but I am tired of weeping over the slain. And 
therefore he is called Procrustes the stretcher, 
though his father called him Damastes. Elee from 
him: yet whither will you flee? The cliffs are 
steep, and who can climb them? and there is no 
other road.” 

But Theseus laid his hand upon the old man’s 
mouth, and said, “There is no need to flee;” and he 
turned to go down the pass. 

“ Do not tell him that I have warned you, or he 
will kill me by some evil death,” the old man 
screamed after him down the glen: but Theseus 
strode on in his wrath. 

And he said to himself, “ This is an ill-ruled land ; 
when shall I have done ridding it of monsters?” And 
as he spoke, Procrustes came up the hill, and all the 
merchants with him, smiling and talking gayly. 


THESEUS. 


185 


And when he saw Theseus, he cried, “Ah, fair young 
guest, have I kept you too long waiting?" 

But Theseus answered, “The man who stretches 
his guests upon a bed, and hews off their hands and 
feet, what shall be done to him, when right is done 
throughout the land?" 

Then Procrustes’ countenance changed, and his 
cheeks grew as green as a lizard, and he felt for his 
sword in haste; but Theseus leapt on him, and 
cried, — 

“ Is this true, my host, or is it false?" and he clasped 
Procrustes’ round waist and elbow so that he could 
not draw his sword. 

“ Is this true, my host, or is it false?" But Pro- 
crustes answered never a word. 

Then Theseus flung him from him, and lifted up 
his dreadful club; and before Procrustes could strike 
him he had struck and felled him to the ground. 

And once again he struck him; and his evil soul 
fled forth, and went down to Hades squeaking, like a 
bat into the darkness of a cave. 

Then Theseus stripped him of his gold ornaments, 
and went up to his house, and found there great 
wealth and treasure, which he had stolen from the 
passers-by. And he called the people of the country, 
whom Procrustes had spoiled a long time, and parted 
the spoil among them, and went down the moun- 
tains, and away. 


186 


THESEUS. 


And he went down the glens of Parnes, through 
mist, and cloud, and rain, down the slopes of oak, 
and lentisk, and arbutus, and fragrant bay, till he 
came to the Vale of Cephisus, and the pleasant town 
of Aphidnai, and the home of the Phytalid heroes, 
where they dwelt beneath a mighty elm. 

And there they built an altar, and bade him bathe 
in Cephisus, and offer a yearling ram, and purified him 
from the blood of Sinis, and sent him away in peace. 

And he went down tha valley by Archarnai, and by 
the silver-swirling stream, while all the people blessed 
him ; for the fame of his prowess had spread wide till 
he saw the plain of Athens and the hill where Athene 
dwells. 

So Theseus went up through Athens and all the 
people ran out to see him ; for his fame had gone be- 
fore him and every one knew of his mighty deeds. 
And all cried, “ Here comes the hero who slew Sinis, 
and Phaia the wild sow of Crommuon, and conquered 
Kerkuon in wrestling, and slew Procrustes the pitiless. 
But Theseus went on sadly and steadfastly ; for his 
heart yearned after his father; and he said, “How 
shall I deliver him from these leeches who suck his 
blood?” 

So he went up the holy stairs and into the Acrop- 
olis where iEgeus’ palace stood; and he went straight 
into IEgeus’ hall and stood upon the threshold and 
looked round. 


THESEUS. 


187 


And there he saw his cousins sitting about the 
table at the wine; many a son of Pallas, but no iEgeus 
among them. There they sat and feasted and 
laughed and passed the wine-cup round, while harp- 
ers harped, and slave girls sang, and the tumblers 
showed their tricks. 

Loud laughed the sons of Pallas, and fast went the 
wine-cup round; but Theseus frowned, and said 
under his breath, “No wonder that the land is full 
of robbers, while such as these bear rule." 

Then the Pallantids saw him, and called to him, 
half-drunk with wine — “Holla, tall stranger at the 
door, what is your will to-'day?” 

“I come hither to ask for hospitality.” 

“Then take it, and welcome. You look like a 
hero and a bold warrior ; and we like such to drink 
with us.” 

“ I ask no hospitality of you ; I ask it of iEgeus 
the king, the master of this house.” 

At that some growled, and some laughed, and 
shouted, “Heyday, we are all masters here.” 

“Then I am master as much as the rest of you,” 
said Theseus; and he strode past the table up the 
hall, and looked around foriEgeus; but he was no- 
where to be seen. 

The Pallantids looked at him, and then at each 
other; and each whispered to the man next him, 
“ This is a forward fellow; he ought to be thrust out 


188 


THESEUS. 


at the door.” But each man’s neighbor whispered 
in return, “His shoulders are broad; will you rise 
and put him out?” So they all sat still where they 
were. 

Then Theseus called to the servants, and said, “ Go 
tell King iEgeus, your master, that Theseus of Troe- 
zeue is here, and asks to be his guest a while.” 

A servant ran and told ^Egeus, where he sat in his 
chamber within, by Medeia the dark-witch woman, 
watching her eye and hand. And when HSgeus heard 
of Troezene, he turned pale and red again ; and rose 
from his seat trembling, while Medeia watched him 
like a snake. 

“What is Troezene to you?” she asked. But he 
said hastily, “ Do you not know who this Theseus is? 
The hero who has cleared the country from all mon- 
sters; but that he came from Troezene, I never heard 
before. I must go out and welcome him.” 

So iEgeus came out into the hall ; and when The- 
seus saw him, his heart leapt into his mouth, and he 
longed to fall on his neck and welcome him; but he 
controlled himself, and said, “ My father may not 
wish for me, after all. I will try him before I dis- 
cover myself;” and he bowed low before HDgeus, and 
said, “I have delivered the king’s realm from many 
monsters ; therefore I am come to ask a reward of 
the king.” 

And old HSgeus looked on him, and loved him, as 


THESEUS. 


189 


what fond heart would not have done? But he only 
sighed, and said, — 

“It is little that I can give you, noble lad, and 
nothing that is worthy of you ; for surely you are no 
mortal man, or at least no mortal’s son.” 

“All I ask,” said Theseus, “ is to eat and drink at 
your table.” 

“That I can give you,” said iEgeus, “if at least I 
am master in my own hall.” 

Then he bade them put a seat for Theseus, and set 
before him the best of the feast; and Theseus sat and 
ate so much that all the company wondered at him; 
but always he kept his club by his side. 

But Medeia the dark witch- woman had been watch- 
ing him all the while. She saw how iEgeus turned 
red and pale, when the lad said that he came from 
Troezene. She saw, too, how his heart was opened 
toward Theseus; and how Theseus bore himself be- 
fore all the sons of Pallas, like a lion among a pack 
of curs. And she said to herself, “ This youth will 
be master here ; perhaps he is nearer to HSgeus already 
than mere fancy. At least the Pallantids will have 
no chance, by the side of such as he.” 

Then she went back into her chamber modestly, 
while Theseus ate and drank; and all the servants 
whispered, “ This, then, is the man who killed the 
monsters! How noble are his looks, and how huge 
his size! Ah, would that he were our master’s son!” 


190 


THESEUS. 


But presently Medeia came forth, decked in all her 
jewels, and her rich Eastern robes, and looking more 
beautiful than the day ; so that all the guests could look 
at nothing else. And in her right hand she held a 
golden cup, and in her left a flask of gold ; and she 
came up to Theseus, and spoke, in a sweet, soft, win- 
ning voice, — 

“ Hail to the hero, the conqueror, the unconquered, 
the destroyer of all evil things! Drink, hero, of my 
charmed cup, which gives rest after every toil, which 
heals all wounds, and pours new life into the veins. 
Drink of my cup, for in it sparkles the wine of the 
East, and Nepenthe, the comfort of the Immortals." 

And as she spoke she poured the flask into the 
cup ; and the fragrance of the wine spread through 
the hall, like the scent of thyme and roses. 

And Theseus looked up in her fair face, and into 
her deep dark eyes. And as he looked, he shrank 
and shuddered ; for they were dry like the eyes of a 
snake. And he rose, and said, “The wine is rich 
and fragrant, and the wine-bearer as fair as the im- 
mortals; but let her pledge me first herself in the 
cup, that the wine may be the sweeter from her lips.” 

Then Medeia turned pale, and stammered, “For- 
give me, fair hero ; but I am ill, and dare drink no 
wine." 

And Theseus looked again into her eyes, and cried, 
“Thou shalt pledge me in that cup, or die.” And 


THESEUS. 


191 


he lifted up his brazen club, while all the guests 
looked on aghast. 

Medeia shrieked a fearful shriek, and dashed the 
cup to the ground, and fled; aud where the wine 
flowed over the marble pavement, the stone bubbled, 
and crumbled, and hissed, under the fierce venom of 
the draught. 

But Medeia called her dragon chariot, and sprang 
into it and fled aloft, away over land and sea, and no 
man saw her more. 

And ^Egeus cried, “What hast thou done?” But 
Theseus pointed to the stone — “ I have rid the land 
of an enchantment: now I will rid it of one more.” 

And he came close to ^Egeus, and drew from his 
bosom the sword and the sandals, and said the words 
which his mother bade him. 

And iEgeus stepped back a pace, and looked at the 
lad till his eyes grew dim ; and then he cast himself 
on his neck and wept, and Theseus wept on his neck, 
till they had no strength left to weep more. 

Then iEgeus turned to all the people, and cried, 
“ Behold my son, children of Kekrops, a better man 
than his father was before him.” 

Who then were mad but the Pallantids, though 
they had been mad enough before? And one shouted, 
“ Shall we make room for an upstart, a pret^pder, 
who comes from we know not where?” And another, 
“ If he be one, we are more than one ; and the stronger 


192 


THESEUS. 


can hold his own.” And one shouted one thing 
and one another; for they were hot and wild 
with wine: but all caught swords and lances off 
the wall, where the weapons hung around, and sprang 
forward to Theseus, and Theseus sprang forward to 
them. 

And he cried, “ Go in peace, if you will, my cousins ; 
but if not, your blood be on j^our own heads.” But 
they rushed at him ; and then stopped short and railed 
him, as curs stop and bark when they rouse a lion 
from his lair. 

But one hurled a lance from the rear rank, which 
past close by Theseus’ head; and at that Theseus 
rushed forward, and the fight began indeed. Twenty 
against one, they fought, and yet Theseus beat them 
all ; and those who were left fled down into the town, 
where the people set on them, and drove them out, 
till Theseus was left alone in the palace, with iEgeus, 
his new-found father. But before nightfall all the 
town came up, with victims, and dances, and songs; 
and they offered sacrifices to Athene, and rejoiced all 
the night long, because their king had found a noble 
son, and an heir to his royal house. 

So Theseus stayed with his father all the winter; 
and when the spring equinox drew near, all the Athe- 
nians grew sad and silent, and Theseus saw it, and 
asked the reason ; but no one would answer him a 
word. 


THESEUS . 


193 


Then he went to his father, and asked him : but 
-Egeus turned away his face and wept. 

“ Do not ask, my son, beforehand, about evils which 
must happen ; it is enough to have to face them when 
they come.” 

And when the spring equinox came, a herald came to 
Athens, and stood in the market, and cried, “ 0 people 
and King of Athens, where is your yearly tribute?” 
Then a great lamentation arose throughout the city. 
But Theseus stood up to the herald, and cried, — 

“And who are you, dog-faced, who dare demand 
tribute here? If I did not reverence your herald’s 
staff, I would brain you with this club.” 

And the herald answered proudly, for he was a 
grave and ancient man, — 

“Fair youth, I am not dog-faced or shameless; but 
I do my master’s bidding, Minos the King of hun- 
dred-citied Crete, the wisest of all kings on earth. And 
you must be surely a stranger here, or you would know 
why I come, and that I come by right.” 

“Iam a stranger here. Tell me, then, why you 
come.” 

“ To fetch the tribute which King ^Egeus promised 
to Minos, and confirmed his promise with an oath. 
For Minos conquered all this land, and Megara which 
lies to the east, when he came hither with a great fleet 
of ships, enraged about the murder of his son. For 
his son Androgeos came hither to the Panathenaic 
13 


194 


THESEUS. 


games, and overcame all the Greeks in the sports, so 
that the people honored him as a hero. But when 
iEgeus saw his valour, he envied him, and feared lest 
he should join the sons of Pallas, and take away the 
sceptre from him. So he plotted against his life, and 
slew him basely, no man knows how or where. Some 
say that he waylaid him by Oinoe, on the road which 
goes to Thebes ; and some that he sent him against 
the bull of Marathon, that the beast might kill him. 
But iEgeus says that the young men killed him from 
envy, because he had conquered them in the games. 
So Minos came hither and avenged him, and would 
not depart till this land had promised him tribute, 
seven youths and seven maidens every year, who go 
with me in a black-sailed ship, till they come to hun- 
dred-citied Crete.” 

And Theseus ground his teeth together, and said, 
“ Wert thou not a herald I would kill thee, for saying 
such things of my father : but I will go to him, and 
know the truth. ” So he went to his father, and asked 
him; but he turned away his head and wept, and said, 
“ Blood was shed in the land unjustly, and by blood 
it is avenged. Break not my heart by questions; it 
is enough to endure in silence.” 

Then Theseus groaned inwardly, and said, “ I will 
go myself with these youths and maidens, and kill 
Minos upon his royal throne.” 

But ^Egeus shrieked, and cried, “ You shall not go, 


THESEUS. 


195 


my son, the light of my old age, to whom alone I look 
to rule this people, after I am dead and gone. You 
shall not go, to die horribly, as those youths and 
maidens die; for Minos thrusts them into a labyrinth, 
which Daidalos made for him among the rocks, — 
Daidalos the regenade, the accursed, the pest of this 
his native land. From that labyrinth no one can 
escape, entangled in its winding ways, before they 
meet the Minotaur, the monster who feeds upon the 
flesh of men. There he devours them horribly, and 
they never see this land again." 

Then Theseus grew red, and his ears tingled, and 
his heart beat loud in his bosom. And he stood 
a while like a tall stone pillar, on the cliffs above some 
hero’s grave; and at last he spoke, — 

“ Therefore all the more I will go with them, and 
slay the accursed beast. Have I not slain all evil- 
doers and monsters, that I might free this land? 
Where are Periphetes, and Sinis, and Kerkuon, and 
Phaia the wild sow? Where are the fifty sons of 
Pallas? And this Minotaur shall go the road which 
they have gone, and Minos himself, if he dare stay 
me.” 

“But how will you slay him, my son? For you 
must leave your club and your armor behind, and 
be cast to the monster, defenceless and naked like 
the rest.” 

And Theseus said, “Are there no stones in that 


196 


THESEUS. 


labyrinth ; and have I not fists and teeth ? Did I need 
my club to kill Kerkuon, the terror of all mortal 
men?” 

Then iEgeus clung to his knees; but he would not 
hear ; and at last he let him go, weeping bitterly, and 
said only this one word, — 

“ Promise me but this, if you return in peace though 
that may hardly be : take down the black sail of the 
ship (for I shall watch for it all day upon the cliffs), 
and hoist instead a white sail, that I may know afar 
off that you are safe.” 

And Theseus promised, and went out, and to the 
market-place where the herald stood, while they drew 
lots for the youths and maidens, who were to sail in 
that doleful crew. And the people stood wailing and 
weeping, as the lot fell on this one and on that: but 
Theseus strode into the midst, and cried, — 

“ Here is a youth who needs no lot. I myself will 
be one of the seven.” 

And the herald asked in wonder, “ Pair youth, know 
you whither you are going?” 

And Theseus said, “I know. Let ns go down to 
the black-sailed ship.” 

So they went down to the black-sailed ship, seven 
maidens, and seven youths, and Theseus before them 
all, and the people following them lamenting. But 
Theseus whispered to his companions, “Have hope, 
for the monster is not immortal. Where are Peri- 


THESEUS. 


197 


phetes, and Sinis, and Sciron, and all whom I have 
slain?” Then their hearts were comforted a little: 
but they wept as they went on board, and the cliffs 
of Sunium rang, and all the isles of the iEgean Sea, 
with the voice of their lamentation, as they sailed on 
toward their deaths in Crete. 


PART III. 


HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUK. 

And at last they came to Crete, and to Cnossus, be- 
neath the peaks of Ida, and to the palace of Minos the 
great king, to whom Zens himself taught laws. So 
he was the wisest of all mortal kings, and conquered 
all the ^Egean isles; and his ships were as many as 
the sea-gulls, and his palace like a marble hill. And 
he sat among the pillars of the hall, upon his throne 
of beaten gold, and around him stood the speaking 
statues which Daidalos had made by his skill. For 
Daidalos was the most cunning of all Athenians, and 
he first invented the plumb-Hne, and the auger, and 
glue, and many a tool with which wood is wrought. 
And he first set up masts in ships, and yards, and his 
son made sails for them : but Perdix his nephew ex- 
celled him ; for he first invented the saw and its teeth, 
copying it from the backbone of a fish; and invented, 
too, the chisel, and the compasses, and the potter’s 
wheel which moulds the clay. Therefore Daidalos 
envied him, and hurled him headlong from the tem- 
ple of Athene: but the Goddess pitied him (for she 


THESEUS. 


199 


loves the wise), and changed him into a partridge, 
which flits forever about the hills. And Daidalos fled 
to Crete, to Minos, and worked for him many a year, 
till he did a shameful deed, at which the sun hid his 
face on high. 

Then he fled from the anger of Minos, he and Ica- 
ros his son having made themselves wings of feathers, 
and fixed the feathers with wax. So they flew over 
the sea toward Sicily; but Icaros flew too near the 
sun ; and the wax of his wings was melted, and he 
fell into the Icarian Sea. But Daidalos came safe to 
Sicily, and there wrought many a wondrous work ; for 
he made for King Cocalos a reservoir, from which a 
great river watered all the land, and a castle and a 
treasury on a mountain, which the giants themselves 
could not have stormed ; and in Selinos he took the 
stream which comes up from the fires of iEtna, and 
made of it a warm bath of vapor, to cure the pains 
of mortal men; and he made a honeycomb of gold 
in which the bees came and stored their honey, and 
in Egypt he made the forecourt of the temple of 
Hephaistos in Memphis, and a statue of himself 
within it, and many another wondrous work. And 
for Minos he made statues which spoke and moved, 
and the temple of Britomartis, and the dancing- 
hall of Ariadne, which he carved of fair white 
stone. And in Sardinia he worked for Iolaos, 
and in many a land beside, wandering up and down 


200 


THESEUS. 


forever with his cunning, unlovely and accursed 
by men. 

But Theseus stood before Minos, and they looked 
each other in the face. And Minos bade take them 
to prison, and cast them to the monster one by one, 
that the death of Androgeos might be avenged. Then 
Theseus cried, — 

“ A boon, 0 Minos. Let me be thrown first to the 
beast. For I come hither for that very purpose, of 
my own will, and not by lot.” 

“Who art thou, then, brave youth?” 

“ I am the son of him whom of all men thou hatest 
most, ^Egeus the king of Athens, and I am come here 
to end this matter.” 

And Minos pondered a while, looking steadfastly at 
him, and he thought, “The lad means to atone by 
his own death for his father’s sin;” and he answered 
at last mildly, — 

“ Go back in peace, my son. It is a pity that one 
so brave should die.” 

But Theseus said, “ I have sworn that I will not go 
back till I have seen the monster face to face.” 

And at that Minos frowned, and said, “ Then thou 
shalt see him; take the madman away.” 

And they led Theseus away into the prison, with 
the other youths and maids. 

But Ariadne, Minos’ daughter, saw him, as she came 
out of her white stone hall; and she loved him for his 


THESEUS. 


201 


courage and his majesty, and said, “ Shame that such 
a youth should die!” And by night she went down 
to the prison, and told him all her heart; and said, — 

“ Flee down to your ship at once, for I have bribed 
the guards before the door. Flee, you and all your 
friends, and go back in peace to Greece; and take 
me, take me with you ! for I dare not stay after you 
are gone ; for my father will kill me miserably if he 
knows what I have done.” 

And Theseus stood silent a while; for he was aston- 
ished and confounded by her beauty : but at last he 
said, “ I cannot go home in peace till I have seen and 
slain this Minotaur, and avenged the deaths of the 
youths and maidens, and put an end to the terrors 
of my land.” 

“And will you kill the Minotaur? How, then?” 

“ I know not, nor do I care : but he must be strong 
if he be too strong for me.” 

Then she loved him all the more, and said, “ But 
when you have killed him, how will you find your way 
out of the labyrinth?” 

“I know not, neither do I care: but it must be a 
strange road if I do not find it out before I have 
eaten up the monster’s carcase.” 

Then she loved him all the more, and said, — 

“ Fair youth, you are too bold ; but I can help you, 
weak as I am. I will give you a sword, and with that, 
perhaps, you may slay the beast ; and a clue of thread, 


202 


THESEUS. 


and by that, perhaps, you may find your way out 
again. Only promise me, that if you escape safe, you 
will take me home with you to Greece; for my 
father will surely kill me if he knows what I have 
done.” 

Then Theseus laughed, and said, “Am I not safe 
enough now?” And he hid the sword in his bosom, 
and rolled up the clue in his hand ; and then he swore 
to Ariadne, and fell down before her, and kissed her 
hands and her feet ; and she wept over him a long 
while, and then went away ; and Theseus lay down and 
slept sweetly. 

And when the evening came, the guards came in 
and led him away to the labyrinth. 

And he went down into that doleful gulf, through 
winding paths among the rocks, under caverns, and 
arches, and galleries, and over heaps of fallen stone. 
And he turned on the left hand, and on the right 
hand, and went up and down, till his head was dizzy; 
but all the while he held his clue. For when he went 
in he had fastened it to a stone, and left it to unroll 
out of his hand as he went on ; and it lasted him till 
he met the Minotaur, in a narrow chasm between black 
cliffs. 

And when he saw him he stopped a while, for he had 
never seen so strange a beast. His body was a man’s ; 
but his head was the head of a bull; and his teeth 
were the teeth of a lion; and with them he tore his 


THESEUS. 


203 


prey. And when he saw Theseus he roared, and put 
his head down, and rushed right at him. 

But Theseus stepped aside nimbly, and as he passed 
by, cut him in the knee; and ere he could turn in 
the narrow path, he followed him, and stabbed him 
again and again from behind, till the monster fled 
bellowing wildly ; for he had never before felt a wound. 
And Theseus followed him at full speed, holding the 
clue of thread in his left hand. 

Then on, through cavern after cavern, under dark 
ribs of sounding stone, and up rough glens and tor- 
rent-beds, among the sunless roots of Ida, and to the 
edge of the eternal snow, went they, the hunter and 
the hunted, while the hills bellowed to the monster’s 
bellow. 

And at last Theseus came up with him, where he 
lay panting on a slab among the snow, and caught 
him by the horns, and forced his head back, and drove 
the keen sword through his throat. 

Then he turned, and went back limping and weary, 
feeling his way down by the clue of thread, till he 
came to the mouth of that doleful place; and saw 
waiting for him, whom but Ariadne! 

And he whispered, “It is done!” and showed her 
the sword ; and she laid her finger on her lips, and 
led him to the prison, and opened the doors, and set 
all the prisoners free, while the guards lay sleeping 
heavily; for she had silenced them with wine. 


204 


THESEUS. 


Then they fled to their ship together, and leapt on 
board, and hoisted up the sail ; and the night lay dark 
around them, so that they past through Minos’ ships, 
and escaped all safe to Naxos ; and there Ariadne be- 
came Theseus’ wife. 


PART IV. 

HOW THESEUS FELL BY HIS PRIDE. 

But that fair Ariadne never came to Athens with 
her husband. Some say that Theseus left her sleep- 
ing on Naxos among the Cyclades; and that Dionusos 
the wine-king found her, and took her up into the 
sky, as you shall see some day in a painting of old 
Titian’s, one of the most glorious pictures upon earth. 
And some say that Dionusos drove away Theseus, and 
took Ariadne from him by force: but however that 
may be, in his haste or in his grief, Theseus forgot 
to put up the white sail. Now ^Egeus his father sat 
and watched on Sunium day after day, and strained 
his old eyes across the sea, to see the ship afar. And 
when he saw the black sail, and not the white one, 
he gave up Theseus for dead, and in his grief he fell 
into the sea, and died; so it is called the iEgean to 
this day. 

And now Theseus was king of Athens, and he 
guarded it and ruled it well. 

For he killed the bull of Marathon, which had killed 
Androgeos, Minos’ son; and he drove back the fa- 


206 


THESEUS. 


mous Amazons, the warlike women of the East, when 
they came from Asia, and conquered all Hellas, and 
broke into Athens itself. But Theseus stopped them 
there, and conquered them, and took Hippolute their 
queen to be his wife. Then he went out to fight against 
the Lapithai, and Peirithoos their famous king: but 
when the two heroes came face to face they loved each 
other, and embraced, and became noble friends; so 
that the friendship of Theseus and Peirithoos is a 
proverb even now. And he gathered (so the Atheni- 
ans say) all the boroughs of the land together, and knit 
them into one strong people, while before they were 
all parted and weak; and many another wise thing he 
did, so that his people honored him after he was 
dead, for many a hundred years, as the father of their 
freedom and their laws. And six hundred years after 
his death, in the famous fight at Marathon, men said 
that they saw the ghost of Theseus, with his mighty 
brazen club, fighting in the van of battle against the 
invading Persians, for the country which he loved. 
And twenty years after Marathon, his bones (they say) 
were found in Scuros, an isle beyond the sea; and they 
were bigger than the bones of mortal man. So the 
Athenians brought them home in triumph; and all 
the people came out to welcome them ; and they built 
over them a noble temple, and adorned it with sculp- 
tures and paintings, in which were told all the noble 
deeds of Theseus, and the Centaurs, and the Lapithai, 


THESEUS. 


207 


and the Amazons; and the ruins of it are standing 
still. 

But why did they find his bones in Scuros? Why 
did he not die in peace at Athens, and sleep by his 
father’s side? Because, after his triumph he grew 
proud, and broke the laws of God and man. And one 
thing worst of all he did, which brought him to his 
grave with sorrow. For he went down (they say be- 
neath the earth) with that bold Peirithoos his friend, 
to help him carry off Persephone, the queen of the 
world below. But Peirithoos was killed miserably, 
in the dark fire-kingdoms under ground; and The- 
seus was chained to a rock in everlasting pain. And 
there he sat for years, till Heracles the mighty came 
down to bring up the three-headed dog who sits at 
Pluto’s gate. So Heracles loosed him from his chain, 
and brought him up to the light once more. 

But when he came back his people had forgotten 
him, and Castor and Polydeuces, the sons of the won- 
drous Swan, had invaded his land, and carried off 
his mother Aithra for a slave, in revenge for a griev- 
ous wrong. 

So the fair land of Athens was wasted, and another 
king ruled in it, who drove out Theseus shamefully, 
and he fled across the sea to Scuros. And there he lived 
in sadness, in the house of Lucomedes the king, till 
Lucomedes killed him by treachery, and there was an 
end of all his labors. 


208 


THESEUS. 


So it is still, my children, and so it will be to the 
end. In those old Greeks, and in us also, all strength 
and virtue come from God. But if men grow proud 
and self-willed, and misuse God’s fair gifts, He lets 
them go their own ways, and fall pitifully, that the 
glory may be His alone. God help us all, and give us 
wisdom and courage to do noble deeds! but God keep 
pride from us when we have done them, lest we fall, 
and come to shame ! 













































































































































































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